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TO MY DEAR WIFE, 

WHO, LIKE HER SAINTED MOTHER, IS THE EMBODIMENT 

OF GENUINE MODESTY AND INTELLIGENT PIETY, 

THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY 

INSCRIBED. 



PREFACE 



Having married, on the 27th of October, 
1863, Miss Mary Frances Grant, youngest 
daughter of Mr. Jesse Root and Hannah 
Grant, of Covington, Ky., in the course 
of time I came thus into frequent contact 
with General Grant by visits at his home 
and otherwise. From the 6th to the 12th 
of July, 1878, General and Mrs. Grant were 
our guests at Copenhagen, Denmark. 

During these visits, etc., the general and 
I conversed freely on various subjects ; he 
readily answered all questions I put to him. 
I generally made a memorandum of the 
most interesting things he had said. He 
was one of the most instructive and inter- 
esting talkers I ever conversed with. His 
conversations had wit and humor in them. 
He was well versed, not only in the history 
of the United States, but also in regard to 
the various resources of the several States 
and Territories of the Union ; to say noth- 
ing of his accurate knowledge of recent 
events in European and oriental countries. 



8 PREFACE. 

We also exchanged letters. Some let- 
ters from him to other members of his 
father's family also fell into my hands. 
Some of them throw fresh light on both 
his private and public character, as well as 
on several of his earlier campaigns. 

Neither the conversations nor the letters 
contained in the following pages have 
ever been published. Friends in civil and 
military life have heard me relate some 
of the former, and seen some of the latter ; 
at their earnest solicitations I have con- 
sented to publish them all ; otherwise it 
would never have occurred to me to do so. 

I have endeavored to give the letters and 
the conversations in their historical order. 
Some of his earlier letters suggested ques- 
tions vvhich I put to him in order to elicit a 
fuller account of things alluded to therein. 

My sole object in sending out this little 
volumie is to serve the cause of truth in 
reference to a man who has played an im- 
portant part in the recent history of our 
country. M. J. C. 

East Orange, N, J., November, 1896. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER 



PAGE 



I. General Grant's Visit to Copenhagen 

— Incidents and Views 1 1 

II. Experiences Previous to the War 20 

III. At the Breaking Out of the War 28 

IV. Grant's Promotion 3^ 

V. Grant's Busy Life— His Views on Re- 
ligion 41 

VI. Belmont— Our Country 47 

VII. Grant's Conscientiousness 55 

VIII. Grant's Views on Slavery— How he 
was Brought Forward as a Presiden- 
tial Candidate 63 

IX. Some Wartime Letters 77 

X. Before the Fall of Vicksburg 86 

XI. Grant Declines a Civil Office 89 

XII. Grant's Views on President Lincoln, 
Stanton, Seward, Chase, and John- 
son , 94 

XIII. Much to Do— Little Influence- 

Grant's Views on Providence 102 

XIV. Office-seeking an Industry 108 

XV. Domestic Life 120 



lO CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XVI. General Grant in Switzerland and 

France 131 

XVII. In Egypt, Jerusalem, Ephesus, Con- 

stantinople, etc 1 36 

XVIII. More Letters from General Grant.... 141 
XIX. Various Conversations with General 

Grant 146 

XX. How President Grant Vetoed the So- 
called " Inflation Bill " 1 56 

XXI. Grant's Views About English Rule in 
India — Importance of Christian Mis- 
sions 162 

XXII. Grant's Desire to Please his Friends 

and Relatives 171 

XXIII. Grant Engaged in Writing his Mem- 

oirs 175 

XXIV. Grant as a Man and Friend 177 

XXV. General Grant's Capture of Fort Donel- 

son — His Virtual Arrest Subsequent 
to that Event — His Behavior in the 
Field 182 



ULYSSES S, GRANT. 



CHAPTER I. 

General Grant's Visit to Copenliagen — Incidents and 
Views, 

During his trip around the world 
General Grant visited Denmark. On July 
5, 1878, they (the general and his wife) 
left Hamburg by rail for Lubeck, in order 
to see that quaint old city. On the even- 
ing of the same day they took a steamer 
for Copenhagen, arriving there the fol- 
lowing morning at seven o'clock.^ The 

'John Russell Young in his work, Around the 
World with General Grant (vol. i, p. 436), writes 
as follows : " We leave Hamburg on July 6, journey 
rapidly through Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark, and 
cross the Great Belt," etc. Mr. Young may have done 
so, for he did not accompany General and Mrs. Grant 
to Copenhagen ; nor did he call either on them or on 
me during the time they were my guests. 



12 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

steamer on which they had come was 
flying the American flag in his honor. 
Quite a number of people had gathered 
at the landing, though nothing had been 
said or published about the date of his 
coming. They cheered him lustily as he 
and Mrs. Grant stepped ashore. They 
were driven at once to my house, where 
they were my guests until July 12, when 
they took a steamer for Christiania, Nor- 
way. 

During these six days I accompanied 
them to different points and places of 
interest in and around Copenhagen, in- 
cluding two picture galleries, the Royal 
Library, six different museums, thirteen 
scientific and thirty charitable institutions. 
I was somewhat surprised at the general's 
accurate knowledge of Danish history, 
and of the agricultural, industrial, com- 
mercial, and financial resources of that 
country. Nor was his knowledge defect- 
ive about the educational institutions of 



VISIT TO COPENHAGEN. 1 3 

Denmark. He informed me that he had 
carefully read both the diplomatic corre- 
spondence and the consular reports as 
soon as they were published by the state 
department. He was highly pleased at 
the perfection of the Danish public-school 
system, believing it to be about equal to 
ours. He thought that the Prussian, the 
Danish, and the American public schools 
were the best in the world, and that the 
percentage of illiteracy in these three 
countries was smaller than that of any 
other country. 

We made several excursions to different 
parts of the kingdom. He noticed that 
where it was possible every foot of 
ground was under cultivation, that the 
people appeared to be intelligent, and to 
live in comfortable circumstances. He 
was correct in believing that there was no 
abject poverty among the Danish people. 
In a letter written to me from Paris on 
December 10, 1878, referring to his visit 



14 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

to Denmark, he writes among other things 
as follows : ^ 

*' Since leaving Copenhagen Mrs. Grant 
and I have visited every capital in Europe 
not previously visited by us. I can say 
with good earnestness that no part of our 
journeyings gave us more pleasure than 
that through the Scandinavian countries; 
and no people have impressed me more 
favorably." 

Among the places we visited was Elsi- 
nore {Daft. Helsingor), a seaport twenty- 
four miles north of Copenhagen, situated 
on the west shore of the Sound, and at its 
narrowest part three and a half miles west 
southwest of the town of Helsingborg, in 
Sweden. Here the '' Sound dues " were 
formerly collected of all vessels that 
passed either way; but during the first 
part of the present century they were 



' The letters quoted in these pages are in my 
possession, and, if necessary, open for inspection or 
comparison. 



VISIT TO COPENHAGEN. 1 5 

gradually abolished by treaty arrange- 
ments with the different maritime nations. 
Here also Shakespeare laid the scene of 
his ''Hamlet," an historical blunder on the 
part of the great dramatist, as Jutland, 
and not Seeland, was Hamlet's country. 
Hamlet's ( supposed ) grave and the pond 
where Ophelia is said to have drowned 
herself were pointed out to the party. 
Mrs. Grant had a copy of Hamlet with her, 
and seemed to believe all the guide said 
to us respecting those places, while the 
general, with a twinkle in his eyes and a 
smile on his lips, said : " I think these 
stories and places are as mythical as is 
the story of Holger Danske " (who is said 
to have resided in the vaults of the Castle 
of Kronborg near by, and who never 
appeared above ground save when the 
country was in danger, in order to march 
at the head of the Danish Army). But he 
believed in the reality of Saxo Gram- 
maticus, a famous Danish writer of the 



1 6 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

twelfth century, who was born in this 
town. 

Arrangements having been made 
through the usual diplomatic channels 
to present General and Mrs. Grant to their 
majesties, the King and Queen of Den- 
mark, we drove, on Wednesday, July lo, 
to Bernstorff Castle, one of the royal 
summer residences, ten miles from Copen- 
hagen, where we arrived at five o'clock 
P. M., the appointed hour. The interview 
between General and Mrs. Grant and their 
Danish majesties lasted an hour, during 
which various subjects relating to the 
United States and Denmark were dis- 
cussed. The latter were surprised at the 
general's accurate knowledge of Danish 
history, politics, resources, etc. Some flat- 
tering remarks were made by the king and 
queen in reference to the writer which 
need not be repeated here. 

The interview was followed by a ban- 
quet given by their majesties in honor of 



VISIT TO COPENHAGEN. 1/ 

General and Mrs. Grant, at which were 
present, besides the hosts and guests of 
honor, the crown prince and crown prin- 
cess, the queen's court ladies, the king's 
ministers and court officials, the general 
of the army and the admiral of the navy, 
and the writer. The conversation was 
general, almost all the guests speaking 
English. It was noticed that General 
Grant drank no wine, except a few drops 
of champagne when the king proposed 
his health. Here it may be stated that 
General Grant declined with sincere thanks 
a banquet that the Minister of Foreign 
Affairs intended to give in his honor ; as, 
also, one that the writer had wished to 
give at Klampenborg, a seaside resort, ten 
miles from Copenhagen. He said that he 
was tired of being " banqueted ; " that 
they had come here to rest for a week. 

After dinner the queen requested the 
general to inscribe his name in an album 

containing the autographs of emperors 
2 



l8 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

and empresses, kings and queens, princes 
and princesses, etc. He was watched by 
all the guests. Afterward Admiral Irmin- 
ger, the commander of the king's steam 
yacht, said to the writer, " The manner 
in which General Grant inscribed his name 
in the album stamps him a great man." 

One evening we went to the Tivoli Gar- 
den, a place of innocent amusement which 
people of all classes and ranks frequent 
during the summer season. On account 
of its fine and extensive grounds, its taste- 
ful buildings and beautiful flower beds, its 
two superior orchestras, its open panto- 
mime theater, panoramas, physical and 
chemical experiments, gymnastic feats, 
festive fireworks, its excellent restaurant, 
and small admission fee, the Tivoli Garden 
of Copenhagen is unrivaled by any similar 
institution in Europe. General Grant was 
highly pleased with it ; he thought it a 
fine thing for those who are unable to 
spend the summer season in the country 



VISIT TO COPENHAGEN. I9 

or at a seaside resort. " All cities ought 
to have similar places," he said, " where 
the rich and the poor, the high and the 
low may meet on a footing of equality ; 
where they may have aesthetic, instructive, 
and other innocent amusements ; and 
where all behave themselves in a proper 
manner, as is the case in the Tivoli Gar- 
den of Copenhagen. It would keep the 
poor people from grumbhng, as well as 
from revolutionary tendencies.'* 



20 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



CHAPTER II. 
Experiences Previous to the War. 
During his stay in Copenhagen as my 
guest General Grant expressed himself 
freely on any subject that I happened to 
broach. I asked him about his residence 
and business in Saint Louis previous to 
the war. He said : *' I settled there as real 
estate agent late in 1858 or early in 1859. 
At first I believed that it would bring me 
more than a support ; but I was disap- 
pointed in my hopes, for that business was 
even then overdone in that city, at least a 
dozen new houses having started about 
the same time I began. I had to look 
out for something else to do." Referring 
to this matter in a letter to his father, 
dated Saint Louis, Mo., August 20, 1859, 
he writes : 



EXPERIENCES PREVIOUS TO THE WAR. 21 

*' I do not want to fly from one thing 
to another; nor would I; but I am com- 
pelled to make a living from the start, for 
which I am willing to give all my time and 
all my energy." 

His father advised him to apply for a 
(as he supposed) vacant professorship of 
mathematics in Washington University. 
In reference thereto the general wrote 
him in the same letter as follows : 

** As to the professorship you spoke of, 
that was filled some time ago ; and were 
it not, I would stand no earthly chance. 
Washington University, where the vacancy 
was to be filled, is one of the best endowed 
institutions in the United States, and all 
the professorships are sought after by 
persons whose early advantages were the 
same as mine, and who have been en- 
gaged in teaching all their mature years. 
Quimby, who was the best mathematician 
in my class, and who was for several years 
an assistant at West Point and for nine 



22 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

years a professor in an institution in New 
York, was an unsuccessful applicant. The 
appointment is given to the most distin- 
guished man in his department in the 
country, and an author." 

The general also told me that he had 
made application for the appointment of 
county engineer, but failed to secure it. In 
reference to this latter he wrote in the 
same letter as follows : 

" I am not oversanguine of getting the 
appointment mentioned in my last letter. 
The Board of Commissioners who make 
the appointment are divided, three Free 
Soilers to two opposed; and although 
friends who are recommending me are the 
very best citizens of this place and mem- 
bers of all parties, I fear they will make 
strictly party nominations for all the offices 
under their control. . . . Since putting in 
my application for the appointment of 
county engineer I have learned that the 
place is not likely to be filled before Feb- 



EXPERIENCES PREVIOUS TO THE WAR. 23 

ruary next. What I shall do will depend 
entirely upon what I can get to do." 

After having settled in Saint Louis as 
real estate agent he wrote to his father 
in reference to this matter, in a letter dated 
Saint Louis, Mo., March 12, 1859, ^^ ^o^- 
lows : 

"We are now living in the lower part of 
the city, fully two miles from my office. 
The house is a comfortable little one, just 
suited to my means. We have one spare 
room, and also a spare bed in the children's 
room, so that we can accommodate any of 
our friends that are likely to come to see 
us. I want two of the girls [meaning two 
of his sisters] or all of them [he had at 
that time three unmarried sisters] for that 
matter, to come and pay us a long visit 
soon." 

In reference to the appointment of county 
engineer referred to he wrote to his father, 
in a letter dated September 23, 1859, ^^ ^^^" 
lows : 



24 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

'' I have waited for some time to write 
you the result of the action of the county 
commissioners upon the appointment of a 
county engineer. The question has at 
length been settled, and, I am sorry to say, 
adversely to me. The two Democratic 
commissioners voted for me and the Free 
Soilers against me. What I shall now go 
at I have not determined, but I hope 
something before a great while. Next 
month I will get possession of my new 
house, when my expenses will be reduced 
so much that a very moderate salary will 
support me. . . . You may judge from the 
result of the action of the county commis- 
sioners that I am strongly identified with 
the Democratic Party; such is not the case. 
I never voted an out-and-out Democratic 
ticket in my life. I voted for Buchanan 
for President to defeat Fremont, but not 
because he was my first choice. In all other 
elections I have universally selected the 
candidates that, in my estimation, were 



EXPERIENCES PREVIOUS TO THE WAR. 25 

the best fitted for the different offices; 
and it never happens that such men are all 
arranged on one side. The strongest friend 
I had in the Board of Commissioners is a 
Free Soiler; but opposition between par- 
ties is so strong that he would not vote for 
anyone, no matter how friendly, unless one 
at least of his own party would go with 
him. The Free Soil Party felt themselves 
bound to provide for one of their own 
party who was defeated for the office of 
county engineer." 

In the same letter he writes of his family 
thus: 

" Julia and the children are all well. Fred 
and Buck go to the school everyday. They 
never think of asking to stay at home.'* 

When the writer went abroad for the first 
time in an official capacity, the late Wil- 
liam H. Seward, then Secretary of State, 
said to him jocosely and with a merry 
twinkle in his eye : " Consider every man 
a scoundrel until you have proved him to 



26 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

be honest." General Grant, on the other 
hand, considered every man honest until 
he proved him to be a scoundrel. The fol- 
lowing incident is an illustration of this 
good trait in Grant's character; it is stated 
by himself in a letter to one of his broth- 
ers, dated Saint Louis, Mo., October 24, 

1859: 

** I have been postponing writing to you, 

hoping to make a return for your horse ; 

but as yet I have received nothing for him. 

About two weeks ago a man spoke to me 

for him and said that he would try him 

the next day, and if he suited give me 

one hundred dollars for him. I have not 

seen the man since; but one week ago 

last Saturday he went to the stable and got 

the horse, saddle, and bridle ; since which 

I have seen neither man nor horse. From 

this I presume he must like him. The 

man, I understand, lives in Florisant, 

about twelve miles from the city. 

" P. S.— The man that has your horse is 



EXPERIENCES PREVIOUS TO THE WAR. 2/ 

Captain Covington, owner of a row of six 
three-story brick houses in this city ; and 
the probabihties are that he intends to give 
me an order on his agent for the money on 
the first of the month, when the rents are 
paid. At all events, I imagine the horse is 
perfectly safe." 

In reference to his employment, or rather 
want of employment, Grant whites in the 
same letter as follows : 

" I am still unemployed, but expect to 
have a place Jn the customhouse on the 
first of next month. My name has been 
forwarded for the appointment of super- 
intendent, which, if I do not get, will not 
probably be filled at all. In that case there 
is a vacant desk which I may get that pays 
twelve hundred dollars per annum. The 
other will be worth from fifteen hundred 
to eighteen hundred dollars, and will oc- 
cupy but little time." 



28 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



CHAPTER III. 
At the Breaking Out of tlie War. 
In the course of our conversation on 
the subject of his failure to obtain employ- 
ment in Saint Louis, I asked the general 
whether he did not think that it was provi- 
dential that every avenue of earning a live- 
lihood in Saint Louis was closed against 
him, in order that he might be compelled 
to go where it would be easier for him to 
find an opening for re-entering the army at 
the outbreak of the war. He smiled and 
said, '* Perhaps so." He fully believed in 
an overruling Providence. Indeed, I gath- 
ered from his remarks, made at different 
times, that he believed the fundamental 
doctrines of the Christian religion, and 
in the necessity of the Christian Church 
for the maintenance and advancement of 



BREAKING OUT OF THE WAR. 29 

moral and religious culture among the 
people. While he never made, previous to 
his last illness, so far as I know, a public 
profession of religion in the sense of what 
Methodists call conversion or regenera- 
tion, yet he believed in the reality of such 
'* a change of heart " in many of his friends 
and acquaintances, among whom is his 
youngest sister Mary, of whose faith he 
said during his last illness: ''I wish I had 
the strong faith that my sister Mary has." 
Before and after the war he was in the 
habit of attending public worship, usually 
at a Methodist church ; for he was very 
fond of good and earnest preaching. On 
one occasion his sister Mary spoke in his 
presence of the Rev. Mr. Blank as being a 
good man, when, with a merry twinkle in 
his eye, he said, " Why, Mary, you speak of 
preachers as if their being good is an un- 
usual thing." 

General Grant was always an early riser. 
On the morning of the third day of his 



30 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

sojourn at my house in Copenhagen, before 
six o'clock, he entered my study, where I 
was engaged in my private devotion. In- 
stead of withdrawing, he came and knelt at 
my side until its close. Whenever he had 
a clergyman as his guest, he always re- 
quested him to '^ say grace " at the table. 
During February, 1 88 1, my wife and my- 
self were his guests in New York. On the 
following Sunday morning we all attended 
church and heard an excellent sermon. 
On returning home, my wife asked him 
whether he would not like to have his 
second son to be a preacher? He replied, 

''Yes, if he could preach like Dr. ." 

After his failure to get any kind of 
employment in Saint Louis, Grant moved 
to Galena, 111., where his father employed 
him as a clerk in his leather and findings 
store. (And here it may be proper to say 
that Grant never worked in his father's tan- 
nery, as has been so often stated by dif- 
ferent writers and speakers.) One of his 



BREAKING OUT OF THE WAR. 3 1 

duties was to collect outstanding debts in 
various parts of the Northwest. I remem- 
ber hearing his father say in reference to 
this subject that " Ulysses sometimes spent 
the amount he collected for horse and buggy 
hire/' and that he ''was not a great success 
as a collector." The general himself told 
me that this business was not to his liking, 
that he had no " faculty for dunning peo- 
ple ;" and that, while he hated war, it 
was a relief to him to get back into the 
army. ''When the war broke out," he 
said, " I felt it my duty to offer my services 
to the government that had educated me." 

In reference to the raising of the first 
company of volunteers in Galena he wrote 
to his father, in a letter dated Camp Yates, 
near Springfield, May 6, 1861, as follows: 

'*At the time our first Galena company 
was raised I did not feel at liberty to en- 
gage in hot haste, but took an active in- 
terest in drilling them and imparting all 
the instruction I could, and at the request 



32 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

of the members of the company and of Mr. 
Washburn I came here for the purpose 
of assisting for a short time in camp, and, 
if necessary, giving my services for the 
war. The next two days after my arrival 
it was rainy and muddy, so that the 
troops could not drill, and I concluded to 
go home. Governor Yates heard of it, and 
requested me to remain. Since then I 
have been acting in that capacity, and 
for the last few days have been in com- 
mand of this camp. The last of the six 
regiments called for from this State will 
probably leave by to-morrow or the day 
following, and then I shall be relieved from 
this command. The Legislature of this 
State provided for the raising of eleven 
additional regiments and a battalion of 
artillery, and a portion of these the gov- 
ernor will appoint me to muster into the 
service of the State, when I presume my 
services may end. I might have got the 
colonelcy of a regiment possibly ; but I 



BREAKING OUT OF THE WAR. 33 

was perfectly sick of the political wire- 
pulling for all these commissions, and 
would not engage in it. I shall be no 
ways backward in offering my services 
when and where they are required ; but 
I feel that I have done more now than I 
could do serving as captain under a green 
colonel ; and if this thing continues, they 
will want more men at a later day. There 
have been full thirty thousand more volun- 
teers offered their services than can be ac- 
cepted under the present call, without in- 
cluding the call made by the State; but I can 
go back to Galena and drill the three or four 
companies there, and render them efficient 
for any future call. My own opinion is 
that this war will be but of short duration. 
The administration has acted most pru- 
dently and sagaciously so far in not bring- 
ing on a conflict before it had its forces 
fully marshaled. When they do strike, 
our thoroughly loyal States will be fully 

protected, and a few decisive victories in 
3 



34 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

some of the Southern parts will send the 
secession army howling, and the leaders 
in the rebellion will flee the country. All 
the States will then be loyal for a genera- 
tion to come ; Negroes will depreciate so 
rapidly in value that nobody will want to 
own them, and their masters will be loudest 
in their declamation against the institution 
in a political and economical view. The 
Negro will never disturb the country again. 
The worst that is to be apprehended from 
him is now : he may revolt and cause more 
destruction than any Northern man wants 
to see. A Northern army may be required 
in the next ninety days to go South to 
suppress a Negro insurrection." 

It appears from the above letter that 
Grant's early views about the duration of 
the war were similar to those of many other 
intelligent men. He told me that at that 
time he had no idea that the war would 
last longer than a few months. He, like 
others, had underrated the plans and dc- 



BREAKING OUT OF THE WAR. 35 

termination of the Southern leaders of the 
rebellion, to say nothing of their Northern 
abettors, who then were as determined to 
divide the Union as their Southern friends. 

With regard to Grant's offering his serv- 
ices to the government, he wrote, in a 
letter to his father, dated Galena, May 30, 
1 86 1, as follows: 

" I have now been home nearly a week, 
but return to Springfield to-day. I have 
tendered my services to the government, 
and go to-day to make myself useful, if pos- 
sible, from this until all our national diffi- 
culties are ended. During the six days I 
have been at home I have felt all the time 
as if a duty was being neglected that was 
paramount to any other duty I ever owed. 
I have every reason to be well satisfied 
with myself for the services already ren- 
dered, but to stop now would not do." 



36 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Grant^s Promotion. 
In his Memoirs Grant gives a description 
of what he did from the time of his re- 
turn to Springfield, 111., to July 3, when he 
wrote a letter to his father, dated Mexico, 
Mo., July 3, 1861, in which occurs the fol- 
lowing concerning army matters as well as 
his promotion : 

♦* The papers keep you posted as to 
army movements ; and as you are already 
in possession of my notions on secession, 
nothing more is wanted on that point. I 
find here, however, a different state of feel- 
ing from what I expected to exist in any 
part of the South. The majority in this 
part of the State are secessionists, as we 
would term them, but deplore the present 
state of affairs. They would make almost 



GRANT'S PROMOTION. 37 

any sacrifice to have the Union restored, 
but regard it as dissolved, and nothing is 
left for them but to choose between two 
evils. Many seem to be entirely ignorant 
of the object of present hostilities. You 
can't convince them but what the ultimate 
object is to extinguish, by force, slavery. 
Then, too, they feel that the Southern 
Confederacy will never consent to give up 
their State ; and as they — the South — are 
the strong party, it is prudent to favor 
them from the start. There is never a 
movement of troops made that the seces- 
sion journals throughout the country do not 
give a startling account of their almost an- 
nihilation at the hands of the State troops, 
while the facts are, there are no engage- 
ments. My regiment has been reported 
cut to pieces once that I know of, and 
I don't know but oftener, while a gun 
has not been fired at us. These reports 
go uncontradicted here, and give confir- 
mation to the conviction already enter- 



38 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

tained, that one Southerner is equal to 
five Northerners. We believe that they 
are deluded, and know that if they are 
not, we are. 

** Since I have been in command of this 
military district (two weeks) I have re- 
ceived the greatest hospitality and atten- 
tion from the citizens about here. I have 
had every opportunity of conversing with 
them freely, and learning their sentiments; 
and although I have confined myself 
strictly to the truth as to what has been 
the result of the different engagements, 
the relative strength, etc., and the objects 
of the administration and the North gen- 
erally, yet they don't believe a word, I 
think. 

'' I see from the papers that my name 
has been sent in for brigadier general. 
This is certainly very complimentary to 
me, particularly as I have never asked a 
friend to intercede in my behalf. My only 
acquaintance with men of influence in the 



grant's promotion. 39 

State was while on duty at Springfield, 
and I there saw so much pulling and haul- 
ing for favors that I determined never to 
ask for anything, and never have, not even 
a colonelcy. I wrote a letter to Washing- 
ton, tendering my services, but they de- 
clined Governor Yates's and Mr. Trum- 
bull's indorsement. 

" My services with the regiment I am 
now with have been highly satisfactory to 
me. I took it in a very disorganized, de- 
moralized, and insubordinate condition, 
and have worked it up to a reputation 
equal to the best ; and, I believe, with the 
good will of all the officers and all the 
men. Hearing that I was likely to be pro- 
moted, the officers, with great unanimity, 
have requested to be attached to my com- 
mand. This I do not want you to read to 
others, for I very much dislike speaking of 
myself. 

" We are now breaking up camp here 
gradually. In a few days the last of us 



40 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

will be on our way for the Missouri River, 
at what point cannot be definitely de- 
termined, wood and water being a consid- 
eration as well as a healthy fine site for a 
large encampment." 



GRANT'S BUSY LIFE. 4I 



CHAPTER V. 
Grant's Busy Life— His Views on Religion. 
In the course of a conversation about 
fixedness of purpose and steadiness of per- 
severance in order to achieve success in life, 
Grant said that whatever he tried to do he 
always did it with all his might. He had 
no patience with lazy people. To live we 
must labor; must have something to do; 
some definite and fixed object in view, 
which shall be our means of support. He 
thought that strong, vigorous labor enables 
one to resist temptation and to do good ; 
that there is happiness in the conscientious 
discharge of one's duties and in the achieve- 
ment of success in whatever calling one 
may be engaged. But one must always 
have a definite purpose ; for labor without 
it is scarcely better than none. According 



42 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

to his view success in life depends much 
upon fixedness of purpose and steadiness 
in perseverance. A man with no business, 
with nothing to do, is of no use to society ; 
he is a consumer, but a nonproducer ; hence 
a parasite. 

Successful men, he thought, owe more to 
their perseverance than to their natural 
powers, or their friends, or favorable cir- 
cumstances. Talent is desirable, but per- 
severance is more so; for it will strengthen 
the mental powers and intensify their en- 
ergy. He said that according to his expe- 
rience perseverance not only makes friends, 
but also favorable circumstances ; that op- 
position, enemies, and barriers of every 
kind are gradually overcome by a stout 
heart and resolute energy of soul. He re- 
ferred to Napoleon's resolution to make 
his way across the Alps as an example of 
what perseverance could accomplish. 

When I referred to his own experiences 
in the war he said that he had always car- 



GRANT'S BUSY LIFE. 43 

ried out what he had planned to do, though 
circumstances sometimes compelled him 
to change his original plan. I asked him 
if he ever thought he could not accomplish 
what he had set out to do or what was ex- 
pected of him. He replied that he never 
thought of failure ; that he continued his 
effort until he had accomplished his task. 

To my question whether he ever prayed 
to God for assistance and success he replied 
that he often prayed to God mentally, but 
briefly, for strength and wisdom to enable 
him to carry to a successful termination the 
task expected of him. He further said 
that, like his mother, he never talked much 
about religion, but thought much on this 
all-important subject ; that he believed in 
an overruling Providence ; that the destiny 
of individuals and of nations is in God's 
hands ; and that, while man has freedom 
of will and action, God overrules men's ac- 
tions for the good of mankind. He further 
said that he could not see how anyone, in 



44 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

view of the history of the world, could be 
an atheist. To this I replied that I could 
not believe that there is really an atheist in 
the world, because religion, no matter what 
its form may be, in my opinion, is an in- 
nate, or an intuitive, or an original element 
of man's soul, and all religions presuppose 
a deity or deities of some kind or other. 
To this he replied, '' I think your views are 
about right." 

Apropos of the above remarks may be 
quoted what he wrote to his father about 
his busy life at the beginning of his career 
in the army at the outbreak of the war, in 
a letter dated Jefferson City, Mo., August 
27, 1861 : 

''Your letter requesting me to appoint 
Mr. F. on my staff was only received last 
Friday, of course too late to give Mr. F. 
the appointment, even if I could do so. I 
remember to have been introduced to Mr. 
F., Sr., several years ago, and if the son is 
anything like the impression I then formed 



grant's busy life. 45 

of the father the appointment would be 
one that I could well congratulate myself 
upon. I have filled all the places on my 
staff, and flatter myself with deserving 
men. ... I only have one of them with 
me yet, and having all raw troops, and but 
little assistance, it keeps me busy from the 
time I get up in the morning until from 
twelve to two o'clock at night or morning. 

'' I have subscribed for the Daily Demo- 
crat, a stanch Union paper, for you, so 
that you might hear from me often. 
There is a good deal of alarm felt by citi- 
zens of an early attack upon this place ; 
and if anything of the kind should take 
place we are illy prepared. All the troops 
are very raw, and about one half of them 
Missouri Home Guards without discipline. 
No artillery and but little cavalry are here. 

*' I do not anticipate an attack here my- 
self ; certainly not until we have attacked 
the enemy first. A defeat might induce 
he rebels to follow up their success to this 



46 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

point; but that we expect to prevent. My 
means of information are certainly as good 
as anyone else has, and I cannot learn that 
there is an organized body of men north 
of the Osage River, or any moving. There 
are numerous encampments through all 
the counties bordering on the Missouri 
River ; but the object seems to be to 
gather supplies, horses, transportation, etc., 
for a fall and winter campaign. 

" The country west of here will be left 
in a starving condition for the next winter. 
Families are being driven away in great 
numbers for their Union sentiments, leav- 
ing behind farms, crops, stock, and all. A 
sad state of affairs must exist under the 
most favorable circumstances that can 
take place. There will be no money in the 
country, and the entire crop will be carried 
off, together with all stock of any value. 

" I am interrupted so often while writ- 
ing that my letters must necessarily be 
very meager and disconnected." 



BELMONT — OUR COUNTRY. 47 



CHAPTER VL 
Belmont— Our Country, 

During the course of our conversations 
I asked the general about the engagement 
at or around Belmont. He narrated the 
affair substantially as we now find it de- 
scribed in his Memoirs. There is, how- 
ever, a letter of his in existence which 
throws much new light on that subject. 
It is addressed to his father, part of which 
is copied from a letter addressed by the 
general to his wife. It reads verbathn, as 
follows : 

*' Cairo, November 8, 1861. 

"Dear Father: It is late at night, 
and I want to get a letter into the mail for 
you before it closes. As I have just fin- 
ished a very hasty letter to Julia that con- 
tains about what I would write, and having 



48 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

something else to do myself, I will have 
my clerk copy it on this [now follows 
the copy : 

*' Day before yesterday I left here with 
about three thousand men on five steamers, 
convoyed by two gunboats, and proceeded 
down the river to within about twelve 
miles of Columbus. The next morning 
the boats were dropped down just out of 
range of the enemy's batteries and the 
troops debarked. 

" During this operation the gunboats 
exercised the rebels by throwing shells 
into their camps and batteries. When all 
ready we proceeded one mile toward Bel- 
mont, opposite Columbus, where I formed 
the troops into line, and ordered two com. 
panics from each regiment to deploy as 
skirmishers and push on through the 
woods and discover the position of the 
enemy. They had gone but a little way 
when they were fired upon, and the ball 
may be said to have fairly opened. 



BELMONT— OUR COUNTRY. 49 

" The whole command, with the ex- 
ception of a small reserve, were then de- 
ployed in like manner with the first, and 
ordered forward. The order was obeyed 
with great alacrity, the men all showing 
great courage. I can say with gratification 
that every colonel, without a single ex- 
ception, set an example to their commands 
that inspired a confidence that will always 
insure victory, when there is the slightest 
possibility of gaining one. I feel truly 
proud to command such men. From here 
we foucrht our wav from tree to tree 
through woods to Belmont, about two and 
a half miles, the enemy contesting every 
foot of ground. Here the enemy had 
strengthened their position by felling the 
trees for two or three hundred yards, and 
sharpening the limbs, making a sort 
of abatis. Our men charged through, 
making the victory complete, giving us 
possession of their camp and garrison, 
equipage, artillery, and everything else. 



50 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

" We got a great many prisoners, the 
majority having succeeded in getting aboard 
their steamers and pushing across the river. 
We burned everything possible and started 
back, having accomplished all that we went 
for, and even more. Belmont is entirely 
covered by the batteries from Columbus, 
and is worth nothing as a military position ; 
it cannot be held without Columbus. 

" The object of the expedition was to 
prevent the enemy from sending a force 
into Missouri to cut off troops I had sent 
there for a special purpose, and to prevent 
reinforcing Price. 

*' Besides being well fortified at Colum- 
bus, their numbers far exceeded ours, and it 
would have been folly to have attacked 
them. We found the Confederates well 
armed and brave. On our return stragglers 
that had been left in our rear, now front, 
fired into us, and more recrossed the river 
and gave us battle for full a mile, and after- 
ward at the boats when we were embark- 



BELMONT — OUR COUNTRY. 5 I 

ing. There was no hasty retreating or 
running away. Taking into account the 
object of the expedition, the victory was 
most complete. It has given me a confi- 
dence in the officers and men of this com- 
mand that will enable me to lead them in 
any future engagement without fear of 
the result. General McClernand (who, 
by the way, acted with great coolness and 
courage throughout, and proved that he is a 
soldier as well as a statesman, and myself 
each had our horses shot from under us. 
Most of the field officers met with the same 
loss; besides, nearly one third of them 
being killed or wounded themselves. As 
near as I can ascertain, our loss was about 
two hundred and fifty killed, wounded, 
and missing. I write in great haste to get 
this in the office to-night." 

The officers and men engaged in the 
battle of Belmont may well be proud of the 
well-merited praise given them by their 



52 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

commander. In conversing with me on 
that subject, he substantially repeated 
what he had written about it to his father. 
He further said that at no subsequent 
period during the war had he received 
greater encouragement by and confidence 
in his troops than by their courageous 
behavior at Belmont. If he had ever had 
doubts as to the courage, intelligence, and 
ability of the men called out from their 
civilian avocations to cope successfully 
with the rebellion, they were completely 
dissipated by the intelligence and courage 
displayed by his troops at Belmont. 

He believed that these qualities were the 
result of true loyalty and ardent patriotism 
on the part of the soldiers and those of the 
loyal North that backed them. He had 
no patience with those who used the war 
for their own selfish ends, — for their en- 
richment at the expense of the country, 
or whose patriotism was measured by 
dollars and cents. These men, he thought, 



BELMONT— OUR COUNTRY. 53 

lacked a good conscience ; or, if they had 
any, it was warped by their inordinate de- 
sire for gain. In a country hke ours, he 
said, there is every possible inducement 
for cultivating true patriotism, and to give 
it its highest expression in noble deeds 
and gentlemanly behavior. We can and 
ought to make our country great by 
our being moral, intehigent, industrious, 
thrifty, if not religious ; for everything that 
can be afforded by outward advantages, 
that the great Creator has given and the 
government or public may bestow, are in 
abundance around us. We have but to 
step in, and by intelligence, energy, and 
labor pluck the fruit of our endeavors. 

He thought that our public-school sys- 
tem is excellent, most of our higher institu- 
tions of learning rest on solid foundations, 
their scholarship and sciences equal to those 
of other countries, our churches doing a 
good work for the public, our resources of 
all kinds enormous or incalculable, our 



54 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

mechanical skill unrivaled, and our liter- 
ature, so far as he was able to judge, on 
the whole, good ; hence we ought to love 
our country, do all in our power to main- 
tain the Union and advance its interests in 
every direction. He thought that our 
children had good and inspiring examples 
in the lines and deeds of those noble men 
and women who have made our country 
what it is, and thus far maintained its in- 
tegrity and placed it in a path of achieving 
''still greater greatness." 



I 



grant's conscientiousness. 55 



CHAPTER VII. 

Grant's Conscientiousness. 

General Grant insisted everywhere 
and always on conscientiousness, and every- 
one who knew him was aware that he him- 
self was extremely conscientious in every- 
thing he said and did. The love of truth 
and right was a conspicuous quality of his 
character. It was the spring-source of his 
integrity. He fully believed the sentiment 
that "an honest man is the noblest work 
of God." It was this sentiment that 
crowned him with real nobility. He also 
believed in the truth of the sentiment of 
the German philosopher Kant : " The two 
most beautiful things in the universe are, 
the starry heavens above us, and the sense 
of duty within us." This sense of duty 
in Grant was inspired by his conscientious. 



$6 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

ness. The idea of obligation, responsibil- 
ity, faithfulness to trust, rectitude, justice, 
right — all these qualities were highly de- 
veloped in him. Anyone who had the 
privilege of listening to his conversations 
in the privacy of the family circle or 
among intimate friends must have noticed 
that these qualities were prominent in his 
character. It pained him to see a lack of 
them in others, and he exacted them from 
those who served under him. 

An illustration of the truth of the above 
statem.ent is found in the following letter 
addressed to his father : 

"Cairo, III., November 28, 1861. 

"Dear Father: Your letter asking if 
Mr. L. can be passed South, and also in- 
closing two extracts from papers, is re- 
ceived. 

" It is entirely out of the question to 
pass persons South. We have many Union 
men sacrificing their lives now from ex- 
posure as well as in battle in a cause 



I 



GRANT'S CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 5/ 

brought about by secession, and it is neces- 
sary for the security of the thousands still 
exposed that all communication should be 
cut off between the two sections. 

** As to that article in the Hawk-Eye, it 
gives me no uneasiness whatever. The 
Iowa regiment has done its duty fully, and 
my report gives it full credit. All who 
were on the battlefield know where Gen- 
eral McClernand and myself were, and it 
needs no resort to the public press for our 
vindication. The other extract gives our 
loss in killed and wounded almost exactly 
correct ; our missing, however, is only three 
or four over one hundred. Recent infor- 
mation received through deserters shows 
that the rebel loss from killed, wounded, 
and missing reaches about two thousand 
five hundred. One thing is certain, after 
the battle one third of Columbus was used 
for hospitals, and many were removed to 
houses in the country. There were also 
two steamboat loads sent to Memphis, and 



58 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

the largest hotel in the city was taken as 
a hospital. The city was put in mourning 
and all business suspended for a day and 
the citizens thrown into the greatest con- 
sternation lest they would be attacked." 

The first few years of the war General 
Grant was frequently attacked or merci- 
lessly criticised by a portion of the public 
press, probably arising from a want of 
knowledge of all the facts of the case in 
hand. His father was worried about it and 
wanted to defend him, or get others to do 
so; but he would never engage in news- 
paper controversy in his own defense, nor 
permit others to do so if he could help it. 
In his conversation with me on this subject 
he said that ordinarily he hated newspaper 
controversy, that he was always willing to 
be judged by his actions as well as by the 
reports he sent to the government of his 
operations in the field. He believed that 
some of the generals of the late war were 



I 



GRANTS CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 59 

" puffed " by newspaper correspondents 
either into obscurity, or ** to the rear," or 
"out of their command." While some 
commanding officers had newspaper corre- 
spondents on their personal staffs, who 
wrote flattering reports about their doings, 
he never employed one on his staff, and 
would hardly tolerate one even in his camp. 
This, he believed, was one of the reasons 
why some of the newspapers frequently at- 
tacked or mercilessly criticised him, and had 
seldom anything good to say about him. 
He believed that " right is might," and that 
right and truth will ultimately triumph. 
He disliked to talk or write about himself, 
or to talk against others. This is a trait 
of character of the Grant family. The 
following incident will illustrate it : 

On one occasion the ladies' benevolent 
society of the church of which Mother 
Grant was a member met at her house for 
the purpose of making some garments for 
the wife and children of a drunkard who 



6o ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

consumed all his earnings by drink. The 
subject of their conversation, among other 
things, was the vile character of said 
drunkard. According to their remarks 
there was not a single redeeming trait left 
in that man. When all had had their 
"say-so," Mother Grant looked up and 
said, "Well, Mr. A. was a good fiddler, 
anyhow." 

I never heard Mother Grant nor the 
general say an unkind thing against any- 
body. If the latter ever made a criticism 
upon anyone, it was always confined within 
the strict limiits of truth. 

The following letter from the general 
to his father, who was worried by some 
attacks made upon the former, will illus- 
trate his aversion to self-defense in news- 
papers. It is dated " Corinth, Miss., Au- 
gust 3, 1862," and contains, among other 
things, the following remarks : 

"You must not expect me to write in 
my own defense, nor to permit it from any- 



GRANT'S CONSCIENTIOUSNESS. 6l 

one about me. I know that the fecHng of 
the troops under my command is favora- 
ble to me, and so long as I continue to do 
my duty faithfully it will remain so. . . . 
I do not expect, nor want, the support of 

the • city press on my side. Their 

course has been so remarkable from the 
beginning, that should I be indorsed by 
them, I should fear that the public would 
mistrust my patriotism. I am sure that I 
have but one desire in this war, and that 
is to put down the rebellion. I have no 
' hobby ' of my own with regard to the 
Negro. If Congress passes any law and the 
President approves it I am willing to ex- 
ecute it. Laws are certainly as binding 
on the minority as on the majority. I do 
not believe even in the discussion of the 
propriety of laws and official orders by the 
army. One enemy is enough at a time, 
and when he is subdued it will be time 
enough to settle personal differences. 
'' I do not want to command a depart- 



62 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

ment, because I believe I can do better 
service in the field. I do not expect to be 
overslaughed by a junior, and should feel 
exceedingly mortified should such a thing 
occur, but would keep quiet, as I have 
ever done heretofore." 



grant's views on slavery. 6^ 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Grant's Views on Slavery — How he was Brought 
Forward as a Presidential Candidate. 

The following letters will explain them- 
selves, as they relate to army matters : 

"Corinth, Miss., August 19, 1862. 
" Dear Sister : I am now in a situa- 
tion -where it is impossible for me to do 
more than to protect my long lines of de- 
fense. I have the Mississippi to Mem- 
phis, the railroad from Columbus to Cor- 
inth, from Jackson to Bolivar, from Cor- 
inth to Decatur, and the Tennessee and 
Cumberland rivers to keep open. Guerril- 
las are hovering around in every direction, 
getting whipped every day at some place 
by some of my command, but keeping us 
busy. The war is evidently getting op- 
pressive to the Southern people. Their 



64 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

''institution" are beginning to have ideas 
of their own, and every time an expedition 
goes out more or less of them follow in the 
wake of the army and come into camp. 
I am using them as teamsters, hospital at- 
tendants, company cooks, etc., thus saving 
soldiers to carry the musket. I don't 
know what is to become of these poor peo- 
ple in the end, but it is weakening the 
enemy to take them from them. If the 
new levies are sent in soon the rebels will 
have a good time getting in their crops 
this fall. 

" I have abandoned all hope of being 
able to make a visit home before the close 
of the war. A few weeks' recreation would 
be very grateful, however. It is one con- 
stant strain now, and has been for a year. 
If I do get through I think I will take a 
few months of pure and undefiled rest. I 
stand it well, however, having gained some 
fifteen pounds in weight since leaving 
Cairo." 



GRANTS VIEWS ON SLAVERY. 65 

The general's reference in the above let- 
ter to the peculiar *' institution " — that is, 
to the status of the Negro at the time it 
was written — leads me to state his opinion 
concerning it from the time he entered the 
army until Congress busied itself with the 
reconstruction of the Southern States. 

General Grant was originally not an abo- 
litionist. He believed in letting slavery 
alone, though he was far from believing it to 
be a " divine institution." He believed that 
Mr. Lincoln's course in reference to it pre- 
vious to the declarationof emancipation was 
right ; nor did he object to the emancipation 
of the slaves. He did, however, privately 
object at first to the their enfranchisement 
before they were able to read and write. 
But when the reconstruction acts had been 
put into operation and the Kuklux en- 
deavored to suppress the political rights 
of the freedmen of the South by the use 
of unscrupulous means, etc., he, as the 
head of the army, became convinced by the 



66 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

reports of those who had to aid in suppress- 
ing " Kukluxism" that the ballot was the 
only real means the freedmen had for de- 
fending their lives, property, and rights. 
When President Johnson came into conflict 
with Congress on the questions of the 
Freedmen's Bureau and the reconstruction 
acts, the general took a decisive stand in 
favor of the congressional legislation on 
those great national questions, though he 
refrained from talking openly on the sub- 
ject. I remember, being his guest in Wash- 
ington at the time, how he prefaced his 
remarks, in the privacy of the family, rela- 
tive to this matter with the words, " Now, 
what I am going to say I do not want to 
be printed in the newspapers." He be- 
lieved it to be improper for army officers 
to discuss or criticise congressional legis- 
lation. •' We are here to execute, not to 
criticise, the acts of Congress," he said. 
Hence, neither senators nor representa- 
tives really knew his sentiments on these 



GRANT'S VIEWS ON SLAVERY. 6/ 

topics ; nor were they able to '' pump " 
them out of him. As the head of the army 
he refused to talk on politics, desiring thus 
to set a good example in this matter to his 
subordinate officers. 

When there was " talk " of bringing him 
forward as the Republican candidate for 
the presidency the leaders of the party 
hesitated, for they were not quite sure 
whether Grant was a Republican or a 
Democrat. It was known that he had 
voted for Buchanan as President ; and this 
fact, together with his silence on the recon- 
struction acts, made these leaders doubt 
his genuine Republicanism (in the party 
sense of the term). 

It was some time during the early spring 
of 1867 that Senator Wade came to Cov- 
ington, Ky. (where General Grant's father 
resided), for the purpose of calling on the 
latter to inquire of him what the general's 
sentiments were in reference to the great 
questions that agitated Congress at that 



68 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

time. Both Father and Mother Grant 
were out, and so, too, were the other mem- 
bers of the family, except myself (my wife 
and myself were at that time residing with 
her parents). 

Senator Wade was disappointed. He 
was about to leave, when I said, " Senator 
Wade, perhaps I can tell you what you 
wish to know." He asked, "Who are you? " 
I replied, " I am Mr. Cramer, Father and 
Mother Grant's son-in-law." He said, '' Per- 
haps you can tell me what I want to know. 
I want to know what General Grant's senti- 
ments are with regard to the action of Con- 
gress relative to the Freedmen's Bureau, the 
reconstruction acts, etc.; in short, I want 
to know whether he is a good Republican ; 
for we desire to bring him forward as our 
candidate for the presidency ; yet we do 
not exactly know where he stands on these 
questions." *' Well," I replied, '' I know 
General Grant's sentiments on all these 
great questions ; for I was his guest during 



GRANT'S VIEWS ON SLAVERY. 69 

February last, and heard him express his 
opinions freely on all measures proposed 
and adopted by Congress ; but he then ex- 
acted a promise from me that what he 
was ' about to say was not to go to the 
press.' If you will promise me not to betray 
the name of your informant I will give 
you all the information you want." 

After having received his promise I 
told him that General Grant indorsed all 
congressional measures ; that he was a 
thorough Republican, and that the Repub- 
lican Party could as fully trust Grant as 
it trusted him (the senator). I then pro- 
ceeded to give him in detail what I had 
heard the general say in reference to the 
different acts of Congress respecting the 
freedmen and the reconstruction of the 
Southern States, etc. When I had ended 
my remarks Senator Wade rose from his 
chair, threw his slouch hat toward the ceil- 
ing (breaking a globe of the chandelier), 
and exclaimed : *' That settles the matter ; 



70 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

we shall propose Grant as the candidate of 
the Republican Party for the presidency. 
I am greatly relieved. The whole party 
will rejoice with me that we are relieved 
of this terrible uncertainty and have found 
our presidential candidate. With him we 
are sure to win. I thank you for this long- 
desired information." 

Senator Wade returned to Cincinnati. 
He faithfully kept his promise ; for, so far 
as I was able to learn, he never mentioned 
my name in connection with his communi- 
cating the information I had given him to 
others. In the summer of 1869 I met him 
again ; he recognized me and thanked me 
again for the information I had given him 
in the early spring of 1867, and with a 
smile he said, "You see what has come 
of it." 

During the time the general was my 
guest in Copenhagen I took occasion to 
tell him that once, and only once, I had 
"betrayed his confidence," and then I 



GRANT'S VIEWS ON SLAVERY. 7 1 

narrated to him the story of Senator 
Wade's call at his father's house in Coving- 
ton, Ky. " Well," said Grant, *' I never 
heard of it; but I think it vi^as all right. It 
did not get into the papers ; but (with a 
smile) how did you prevent it ? " I told 
him that I had exacted a promise from 
Wade not to mention my name in connec- 
tion with the information he had received 
from me, nor to have our interview pub- 
lished in the newspapers. " Well, general," 
said I, " will you pardon my ' betrayal ' of 
your confidence in this matter?" With a 
merry twinkle in his eye and a smile on 
his lips he replied : " How can I, after hav- 
ing experienced the consequences of your 
* betrayal ;' but I guess it is all right." *' I 
am glad," I said, " for a number of reasons 
that you have never heard of this incident 
before." *' I am glad, too," he said, " that 
you never asked for a reward for it." I 
replied : " It has never occurred to me that 
I had done anything in this matter that de- 



72 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

served a reward. All 1 did was to relieve 
Senator Wade of an uncertainty in refer- 
ence to your political sentiments at a crit- 
ical time when Congress and the President 
were at loggerheads with each other, and 
when it behooved every loyal and pa- 
triotic citizen legitimately to do all in his 
power to bring about a pacific settlement 
of the difficulties growing out of the late 
war." 

" It would be a good thing for our 
country," he said, " if all our people could 
see and do their duties in that light; but 
I am sorry to say there is a good deal of 
self-seeking among some of our politicians, 
who expect and demand a reward for 
every little service they render, not so 
much for the country as for their party, 
and generally they do not always belong 
to the best class of citizens. A truly loyal 
and patriotic citizen performs his duties as 
a citizen, not with the expectation of receiv- 
ing a reward for it, except the reward of a 



GRANT'S VIEWS ON SLAVERY. J^ 

good conscience, but because he loves his 
country and desires to promote its best in- 
terests. Didn't Christ say somewhere that 
if we have done our duties we are still un- 
profitable servants for merely having done 
what we ought to have done ? " 

I replied : '' Yes ; the exact words of 
Christ are : ' When ye shall have done all 
those things which are commanded you, 
say, We are unprofitable servants: we have 
done that which was our duty to do.* I 
take this to mean in our case that, as the 
citizen receives from the State protection 
of life and family and property, and many 
other privileges and blessings, he is bound 
in return to perform his duties to the State, 
whatever they may be, which is really 
nothing more than giving a quid pro quo ; 
hence he has no right to claim a reward as 
if he had rendered the State an extraordi- 
nary service. A child receiving protection, 
support, education, and love from its par- 
ents is in duty bound to render them in 



74 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

return loving obedience, and has no right 
to claim an extra reward as though it had 
rendered them some extraordinary service. 
This, I think, expresses in principle the 
relation between the State and the citizen, 
as well as the doctrine of the justification 
of the sinner by grace alone ; if the sinner 
is thus justified by God, then the obligation 
of the sinner to love and serve God in re- 
turn grows naturally out of this fact, and 
he has no right to claim an extra reward 
for love and service thus rendered." 

"Ah," replied the general, "you are get- 
ting into the field of theology ; but I think 
your explanation and application are cor- 
rect. If only some of our politicians could 
be made to see it in that light; but I have 
known men who claimed appointments 
from me because they had voted for me. 
I cannot imagine how some people can do 
such a thing. Is it not enough that they 
have the right to vote for whom they please? 
Is it not preposterous for men to claim a 



GRANT'S VIEWS ON SLAVERY. 75 

reward for having exercised that right — a 
right freely given to them by the State ? 
Such people ought to learn the first prin- 
ciples of moral philosophy, to say nothing 
of the teachings of Christ. I have had a 
good opportunity to notice much of the self- 
ishness of human nature, and the thought 
occurred to me that the children in our 
public schools ought to be instructed in the 
principles of moral philosophy ; of course, 
this instruction should be adapted to their 
understanding, for there are many children 
and parents who do not attend church or 
Sunday school, and some of the former 
generally grow up without having correct 
ideas of right and wrong, of duty, service, 
submission, trade, commerce, etc. While 
we cannot compel parents and children to 
attend church and Sunday school (which 
is one of the glories of our country), yet 
the State should see to it that the chil- 
dren attending our public schools should 
receive instruction in the science of morals, 



76 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

SO that they may become intelligent citi- 
zens, having correct ideas of the laws and 
rules that govern the relations of parents 
and children, of citizens and the State, of 
citizens to each other, etc. This would be 
one of the strongest measures for securing 
good citizens as well as for perpetuating 
our form of government and making our 
nation really great." 



SOME WARTIME LETTERS. // 



CHAPTER IX. 

Some Waftime Letters. 

The following extracts from two letters 
written by the general, the one from " Cor- 
inth, Miss.," and the other from " Oxford, 
Miss.," will explain themselves. The rea- 
son why the letters are not given entire is 
that portions of them contain private or 
family matters that are not of public in- 
terest. The first one is addressed to his 
father, dated : 

"Corinth, Miss., September 17, 1862. 
" Dear Father : A letter from you 
and one from Mary were received some 
time ago, which I commenced to answer 
in a letter addressed to Mary, but being 
frequently interrupted by matters of busi- 
ness it was laid aside for some days and 



78 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

finally torn up. I now have all my time 
taxed. Although occupying a position 
attracting but little attention at this time, 
there is probably no garrison more threat- 
ened than this. I expect to hold it, and 
have never had any other feeling, either 
here or elsewhere, but that of success." 

[Here follows a request to his father not 
to do anything in the way of defending 
him against the attacks of the press, which, 
as was usual, worried his father a good deal, 
and prompted him to take up the pen, or 
get others to do so, in defense of his son, 
for whose success he was naturally very 
anxious. The general wrote him :] 

*' I require no defenders. . . . Persons 
who have returned to this army said that 
they found the best of feeling existing 
toward me in every place except in Cin- 
cinnati. Do nothing to correct anything, 
and keep quiet on this subject. 

'' Mary wrote me about an appointment 
for Mr. N. I have nothing in the world 



SOME WARTIME LETTERS. 79 

to do with any appointments, no povver 
to make, and nothing to do with recom- 
mending except for my own staff. That 
is now already full." 

Parts of the other letter, addressed to 
his sister Mary, read as follows : 

"Oxford, Miss., December 15, 1862. 

"Dear Sister: Yesterday I received a 
letter from you and the children and one 
from Uncle Samuel. . . . I shall remain here 
to-morrow, or the next day at farthest. 

'' We are now having wet weather. I 
have a big army in front of me as well as 
bad roads. I shall probably give a good 
account of myself, however, notwithstand- 
ing all obstacles. My plans are all com- 
plete for weeks to come, and I hope to 
have them all work out just as planned. 
For a conscientious person, and I profess 
to be one, this is a most slavish life. I 
may be envied by ambitious persons, but I 
in turn envy the person who can transact 



80 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

his daily business and retire to a quiet 
home without the feeling of responsibility 
for to-morrow. Taking my whole depart- 
ment, there are an immense number of 
lives staked upon m.y judgment and acts. 
I am extended now like a peninsula into an 
enemy's country with a large army depend- 
ing for their daily bread upon keeping 
open a line of railroad running one hun- 
dred and ninety miles through an enemy's 
country, or at least through territory oc- 
cupied by a people terribly embittered and 
hostile to us. With all this I suffer the 
mortification of seeing myself attacked 
right and left by people at home professing 
patriotism and love of country who never 
heard the whistle of a hostile bullet. I 
pity 'them and a nation dependent upon 
such for its existence. I am thankful 
however, that although such people make 
a great noise, the masses are not like 
them. 

'' To all my other trials I have to con- 



SOME WARTIME LETTERS. 8 1 

tend against is added that of speculators 
whose patriotism is measured by dollars 
and cents. Country has no value with 
them compared with money. To elucidate 
this would take quires of paper, so I will 
reserve this for an evening's conversation 
if I should be so fortunate as to again get 
home, where I can have a day to myself. 

" Tell the children to learn their lessons, 
mind their grandma, and be good children. 
I should like very much to see them. To 
me they are all obedient and good. I may 
be partial, but they seem to me to be chil- 
dren to be proud of." 

Speaking here of his children, the gen- 
eral had reference to the fact that they 
were for the timQ being staying at his par- 
ents' home in Covington, Ky., where they 
went to school, and were for some time 
under the care and management of the 
general's mother and sisters. According 
to the first part of the above letter his wife 



82 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

and father were at the time of writing at 
Holly Springs for the purpose of pa3'ing 
him a visit. The general had alwa5^s been 
very fond of his children and had a high 
opinion of their character and ability. He 
was very "domestic" in his habits and 
tastes. He loved to be at home, surround- 
ed by his family. He did not believe in 
physical punishment as applied to children. 
He told me that, so far as his children 
were concerned, he put them " on their 
honor," and he believed it had a better 
effect than if he had applied physical pun- 
ishment to them. This thought is worthy 
of the attention of parents and educators. 

It is evident from the above letter that 
the general was very sensitive in reference 
to the attacks made upon him by the press 
and others at home while he was at the 
front doing all in his power to put down 
the rebellion, denying himself of home com- 
forts and the presence of his family, and 
bearing day and night an awful responsi- 



SOME WARTIME LETTERS. 83 

bility for the support of his army in the 
enemy's country, as well as for their and 
his honor in prosecuting the war success- 
fully and meeting the expectations of the 
government and the people. In convers- 
ing on this subject at a subsequent period 
he told me that though he bore it all in 
silence he was frequently discouraged and 
felt tempted to resign his commission and 
go home. He thought it ungenerous, to 
say the least, on the part of those who at- 
tacked him to charge him with things of 
which he was not guilty, and to criticise 
his plans and actions when they were to- 
tally ignorant of the position and circum- 
stances of the case, while he was at the 
front bearing all the hardships, privations, 
and responsibility, and they at their homes 
enjoying their comforts and rest and ease, 
with no responsibility whatsoeverconnected 
with the war. But being conscientious, and 
knowing that he was doing his very best 
under the circumstances, he could afford to 



84 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

wait until time justified his course. His 
detracters are forgotten, or nearly so, while 
his name still lives and is honored. 

A great trial to him were those ** specu- 
lators whose patriotism was then measured 
by dollars and cents," and who thought 
more of money-making than of their country 
in distress. He told me that he was often 
besieged by them, requesting him to give 
them " passes " to go South ; and in some 
cases he was even requested to give them 
a military guard for protection— a thing he 
never did. Of course, these disappointed 
'' speculators " returned home and caused 
*' complaints " and "charges," manufactured 
out of whole cloth, to be circulated and 
published against him in a portion of the 
press that was either opposed to the prose- 
cution of the war, or whose " correspond- 
ents " he did not appoint on his staff nor 
furnish with news from headquarters. 
These complaints and charges, coming 
from men who had '' recently been at 



SOME WARTIME LETTERS. 85 

the front," were made to have the sem- 
blance of truth and thus to hurt the gen- 
eral, if they were not intended to be the 
means for his removal. Seen and judged 
at this distance, these men were worse than 
the rebels ; for the latter fought for their 
'^ cause," and thus staked their lives and 
property in its maintenance or defense, 
while the former endeavored to take ad- 
vantage of their bleeding country to en- 
rich themselves at its expense ; and if the 
commanding general felt it to be his duty 
to put his veto upon their selfish, if not 
unlawful, endeavors, they, in a cowardly 
manner, stabbed him in the back. 



86 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



CHAPTER X. 

Before the Fall of Vicksbttrg. 

"Walnut Hills, Miss., June 15, 1863. 

*' Dear Father : I have received sev- 
eral letters from Mary and yourself, but, as 
I have to do with nineteen-twentieths of 
those received, have neglected to answer 
them. 

" All I can say is that I am well ; I have 
the enemy closely hemmed in all around. 
My position is naturally strong and fortified 
against an attack from outside. I have 
been so strongly reinforced that Johnston 
will have to come with a mighty host to 
drive me away. I do not look upon the 
fall of Vicksburg as in the least doubtful. 
If, however, I could have carried the place 
on the twenty-second of last month I could 
by this time have made a campaign that 



BEFORE VICKSBURG. 8/ 

would have made the State of Mississippi 
ahnost safe for a solitary horseman to ride 
over. As it is, the enemy have a large 
army in it, and the season has so far ad- 
vanced that water will be difficult to find 
for an army marching, besides the dust and 
heat that must be encountered. The fall 
of Vicksburg now will only result in the 
opening of the Mississippi River and the 
demoralization of the enemy. I intended 
more from it; I did my best, however, and, 
looking back, can see no blunder com- 
mitted. Yours, etc., Ulysses." 

Having always been naturally interested 
in what led to the siege and the taking of 
Vicksburg (having a brother killed in the 
battle of Champion's Hill), I asked the 
general about it, and he narrated substan- 
tially the affair as we find it described in 
his Memoirs^ only not quite so elaborately; 
and he made the identical remarks found 
in Vol. I, pp. 519, 520: " Had McClernand 



88 ULYSSES S, GRANT. 

come up with reasonable promptness, or 
had I known the ground as I did after- 
ward, I cannot see how Pendleton could 
have escaped with any organized force ; " 
hence on June 15, 1863, he could write to 
his father, " Looking back I can see no 
blunder committed," meaning on his own 
part. But he expressed regrets that General 
McClernand did not move more rapidly, 
as in that case Vicksburg w^ould have fallen 
at least a month earlier into his hands. 
What would have been the consequence of 
this cannot be calculated with exactness ; 
but in Grant's opinion it would probably 
have shortened the war and hastened the 
restoration of peace. 



GRANT DECLINES A CIVIL OFFICE. 89 



CHAPTER XI. 

Grant Declines a Civil Office* 

From the following letter it appears 
that General Grant was urged to be a can- 
didate for a certain office not mentioned 
therein. It is probable that the men whose 
names are mentioned in it suggested to his 
father and to himself the propriety of his 
allowing his name to be brought forward as 
a candidate for the Presidency, though I 
am not quite sure about it. The letter 
will explain itself: 

"Nashville, Tenn., February 20, 1864. 
" Dear Father : I have received your 
letter and those accompanying it, to-wit : 
Mr. Newton's and J. N. Morris's. I may 
write to Mr. Newton, but it will be differ- 
ent from what he expects. I am not a 



90 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

candidate for any office. All I want is to 
be left alone to fight this war out, fight 
all rebel opposition, and restore a happy 
Union in the shortest possible time. You 
know, or ought to know, that the public 
prints are not the proper mediums through 
which to let a personal feeling pass. I 
know that I feel that nothing personal to 
myself could ever induce me to accept a 
political office. 

" J'J^^g^^g from your letter you seem 
to have taken an active feeling, to say the 
least, in this matter, that I would like to 
talk to you about it. I could write, but 
do not want to do so. Why not come 
down here and see me? 

"Yours, etc., Ulysses." 

General Grant- never conversed with me 
on this subject, except to say that while in 
the army he had been requested to '' run for 
an office ; " that he peremptorily declined 
to do so ; that he never had a desire while 



GRANT DECLINES A CIVIL OFFICE. 9I 

in the army for a political office, not even 
for the presidency ; that he was perfectly 
satisfied with being in the army, and that 
after the war it was his intention to spend 
the remainder of his life, or until he had 
reached the legal limit, in the position as 
head of the army. He told me that it 
cost him a severe struggle to accept the 
nomination as candidate for the presidency 
offered to him by the Republican Party in 
1868, and that only upon the strogu pres- 
entation of the case by the leaders of that 
party, and taking the situation and cir- 
cumstances into consideration, he felt it 
his duty to obey that call and serve his 
country in the position to which the peo- 
ple afterward elected him. He said that 
when the people, through their representa- 
tives, called him to any position, he felt it 
his duty to obey that call, whatever his 
personal feelings or his likes and dislikes 
might be. When the country calls a citi- 
zen to perform any service it is his duty 



92 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

to obey, '' though," he said, with a smile, 
*' there are some who either call them- 
selves, or by some hook or crook get others 
to call them, and then they boast that the 
country has called them." 

Upon another occasion he said to me: 
** I can truly say that I never sought the 
presidency, nor any promotion that came 
to me in the army during the war. They 
all came to me unsolicited ; but in all posi- 
tions that thus came to me I endeavored 
to do my duty as I saw it, conscientiously, 
and to give satisfaction to those who pro- 
moted or elected me. From the time my 
services were accepted in 1861 until the 
expiration of my second term as President 
I never asked for promotion, nor got others 
to ask for me. Perhaps one reason why I 
received unsolicited promotions is that I 
never allowed myself to deviate from the 
path of duty — from what was given me to 
do. I never aspired to hold any political 
office ; I never sought newspaper ' puffs ' or 



GRANT DECLINES A CIVIL OFFICE. 93 

influence. My sole desire was to do all in 
my power to put down the rebellion and 
restore the Union. While I was in the 
army I never criticised the actions of Con- 
gress or of the administration ; I simply 
obeyed all the orders given me by my supe- 
riors. I may say I was a man of one pur- 
pose, namely, to put down the rebellion." 



94 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Grant^s Views on President Lincoln, Stanton, Seward, 
Qiase, and Johnson, 

In this connection it may be well to give 
an extract from a letter addressed to his 
father relative to a certain young man 
(Mr. W.) in the army, who appears at that 
time to have been undergoing punishment 
for an offense, but who had the audacity to 
apply for a position on the general's staff. 
It is as follows : 

"Culpepper Court House, Va., April i6, 1864. 
" Dear Father: Your letter inclosing 
one from young W., asking for duty on 
my staff during his suspension, is received. 
It is the third letter from him on the same 
subject. Of course, I cannot gratify him. 
It would not be proper. It would be 
changing punishment into reward. . . . 



VIEWS ON PUBLIC MEN. 95 

** It has rained here ahnost every day 
since my arrival ; it is still raining. Of 
course, I say nothing of when the army 
moves, or how, or where. I am in most 
excellent health, and well pleased with 
appearances here. Yours, etc., 

" Ulysses." 

The general's remarks relative to young 
W. show his high sense of propriety and 
justice. He told me that this was not the 
first time that similar requests were made 
of him by persons (or their friends) who 
were either undergoing some kind of pun- 
ishment for having committed some of- 
fense or were known to entertain favorable 
feelings for the Southern cause, but who 
coveted the distinction of serving on Gen- 
eral Grant's staff irrespective of their merit 
or ability, or both. Whenever he had re- 
ceived promotion applications for positions 
on his staff came pouring in from all classes 
of men, some known and some unknown 



96 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

to him, who cared less for rendering real 
service, but more for the honor it would 
bring to them. 

The letter written from Culpepper Court 
House soon after the general had assumed 
command of the armies of the United 
States, and making his headquarters with 
the Army of the Potomac, suggests a re- 
mark he made to me relative to his direct- 
ing the movements of that army. He said 
that, the army being so near Washington, 
he was afraid lest senators and members 
of Congress might endeavor to interfere 
with his plans, and thus bring confusion 
into or retard the movements of the army; 
that therefore he had requested President 
Lincoln to see to it that such should not 
be the case, and that he had received the 
desired assurance. Continuing to speak of 
Mr. Lincoln, he said that he never knew a 
man in a high position who had the faculty 
to manage other men so easily and without 
giving offense in such a high degree as he. 



VIEWS ON PUBLIC MEN. 97 

While he was gentle and humane, he was 
nevertheless decisive in his opinions. He 
was very careful of the feelings of others 
and approachable to all classes of persons. 
He was morally and intellectually great 
without assuming to be great, and had the 
gift of easily comprehending any situation 
with which he had to deal. He was always 
governed by the best of motives, and was 
thoroughly unselfish. The country was 
fortunate in having him as President 
during the most trying period in its his- 
tory. No man could have done better, 
if as well. He will be more thought of 
as time passes. He will go down into his- 
tory as one of the greatest men America 
has ever produced. 

Concerning Mr. Stanton, Secretary of 
War under Mr. Lincoln, General Grant 
said that he was also a great man in his 
way, and the right man in the right place; 
that few, if any could have done as well in 
the War Office during the war as he did, 



98 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

but he had not the same ability of mana- 
ging men that Mr. Lincohi had; that he was 
not as considerate of the feelings of others as 
Mr. Lincoln was ; that he had a strong will, 
that in great emergencies he was uneasy 
and fidgety; still, in the War Office he was 
the complement of Mr. Lincoln. 

With reference to William H. Seward, 
Secretary of State, Grant said that he con- 
sidered him a great statesman ; that he 
managed our foreign affairs during the war 
with consummate skill; that Mr. Lincoln 
could not have had a better man in that 
Q.ffice than Mr. Seward was ; and that he 
rendered our country an immense service 
by preventing war between the United 
States and England while yet maintain- 
ing our rights. He also praised Seward's 
diplomatic skill in inducing Napoleon III 
to withdraw his troops from Mexico, thus 
preventing the establishment of a perma- 
nent empire in our neighborhood. 

Relative to S. P. Chase, Secretary of the 



VIEWS ON PUBLIC MEK. 99 

Treasury, the general said, that he always 
admired his great financial ability; that by 
his skillful management of our national 
finances durinc: the war he rendered the 
country an immense service ; that his hon- 
esty and integrity were never questioned, 
though he might easily have enriched him- 
self; that he was a thoroughbred gentle- 
man, possessing a great mind, a great char- 
acter, and great statesmanship. His weak- 
ness consisted chiefly in his inordinate am- 
bition to become President, which induced 
him to seek the Democratic nomination. 
The nobility of Mr. Lincoln's character, lie 
said, is shown, among other things, in nom- 
inating Mr. Chase, in October, 1864, to the 
Senate for the position of Chief Justice of 
the Supreme Court of the United States 
after he had been seeking during that year 
the nomination for the Presidency in the 
place of Mr. Lincoln. 

Concerning Andrew Johnson, Grant said 
that while he was naturally smart and 



lOO ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

shrewd he nevertheless showed the defect- 
iveness of his early education ; that in some 
things he was stubborn, and mistook it for 
strength of character ; that his denunci- 
ations of the rebels, after he had become 
President, caused a great deal of uneasiness 
and trouble in the South ; that the sudden 
change in his sentiments respecting the 
Southern States brought him into conflict 
with Congress and did a great deal of harm; 
and that he was ambitious and designing 
for a second term. That strange charm 
and nobility so manifest in Mr. Lincoln's 
character was absent in Mr. Johnson's. 
There were no revengeful feelings in Mr. 
Lincoln ; if there were he never showed 
them ; but Mr. Johnson was revengeful, 
passionate, and opinionated. ''While Mr. 
Johnson had some good traits in his char- 
acter, yet as a whole I cannot admire him." 
Of the two Congresses that carried on 
the war, Grant had nothing but good to 
say. He admired their patriotism and 



VIEWS ON PUBLIC MEN. lOI 

the unstinted liberality with which they 
voted men and means to prosecute the war 
to its close. *' Without their active sup- 
port," he said, "we would have failed in 
suppressing the rebellion." 



I02 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Much to Do— Little Influence— Grant's Views on 
Providence. 

The following extracts from letters ad- 
dressed to his father, one at the close of 
the war, and the other nearly three years 
later, will show the general's busy life 
during and after the war; and that he 
possessed apparently little influence in get- 
ting appointments for applicants : 

" Headquarters Armies of the U. S., 
" Washington, May 6, 1865. 
'' Dear Father : I have just returned 
from Philadelphia, leaving Mr. Cramer 
there. He can describe our new house to 
you when he returns. 

*' My health is good, but I find so much 
to do that I can scarcely keep up with 
public business, let alone answering all the 



MUCH TO DO. 103 

private letters I receive. My going to 
Philadelphia and spending half my time 
there, as I hope to do. will give me some 
leisure. I attend to public business there 
by telegraph and avoid numerous calls tak- 
ing up much time, or hope to do so. . . . 

'' I hope to hear of mother's entire re- 
covery. Yours, etc. Ulysses." 

"HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE U. S., 

Washington, February 10, 1868. 
•* Dear Father : I spoke to Secretary 
McCulloch about giving Mrs. P. a clerk- 
ship in the Treasury, and he promised me 
he would do it, but has not yet done it. 
Now, I fancy I have not much influence, 
and if I had I would be very careful about 
using it. The family are well and send 
much love to mother, Jennie, and yourself. 
*' Yours truly, U. S. GRANT." 

The Mrs. P. referred to in the above let- 
ter was the widow of an army officer who 
was killed in the war and left her and her 



104 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

boy without any means. She resided in 
Covington, Ky., and made appHcation 
through the general's father for a clerkship 
in the Treasury Department. She never 
got it, which induced him to say that 
** he had not much influence," and even if 
he had he '' would be very careful about 
using it." 

The house referred to in the first of the 
above letters was the one donated to him 
by the citizens of Philadelphia soon after 
the close of the war. It was a fine, com- 
modious house, with all the modern im- 
provements and conveniences. With be- 
coming modesty and sincere gratitude he 
accepted it as a token of the appreciation, 
on the part of the citizens of that city, of 
the services he was enabled, " with the help 
of the armies of the United States, to ren- 
der our country." It was then his inten- 
tion to let his family reside there, while he 
divided his time between Philadelphia and 
Washington, but the business of his office 



MUCH TO DO. 105 

incident to the disbanding of the armies 
of the United States at the close of the 
war, and the reorganization of the reg- 
ular army, etc., was so enormous that he 
was compelled soon to abandon his plan 
and move his family to Washington. It 
was fortunate, however, that his attention 
had been directed to Philadelphia imme- 
diately after the close of the war; other- 
wise he would probably have been in Wash- 
ington at the time of the assassination 
of Mr. Lincoln and the attack upon Mr. 
Seward and his son. In all probability he 
would have shared the same fate. It was 
no doubt a merciful Providence that thus 
enabled him to escape the hand of the 
assassin ; at least he told me, when we 
conversed on the assassination of Mr. Lin- 
coln, that he looked upon it as such, " for 
I am," he said, " a profound believer in 
a special and a general providence that 
shapes the destiny of individuals and na- 
tions." 



Io6 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

We had several conversations on this sub- 
ject. To illustrate : At the outbreak of the 
war he was somewhat indifferent to the 
question of the abolition of slavery. He 
thought at first that the rebellion could be 
suppressed without its abolition. But as 
the war progressed he became gradually 
convinced that *' slavery was doomed and 
must go." He had always recognized its 
moral evil, as also its being the cause of 
the war ; and " as all evil must be punished 
in some form at some time, and as nations 
have no organized existence hereafter, 
they must be punished here for their na- 
tional sins ; " hence General Grant came to 
look upon the war as a divine punishment 
for the sin of slavery; and God used hu- 
man beings to carry out his purposes. 
*' Thus," he said, " we see a special provi- 
dence that shapes the calling and destiny 
of individuals, and we see a general prov- 
idence that governs nations, yet all in 
such a way as not to destroy man's free 



MUCH TO DO. 107 

agency." Grant was communicative to 
me on religious and Church matters when- 
ever I broached these subjects. Few 
Christians were more conscientious and 
just than he was. 



I08 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Office-seeking an Industry. 

The following letter, addressed to his 
sister Mary, will be read with interest : 

" Washington, D. C, ]\Iarch 31, 1869. 

" My Dear Sister : I received a note 
from you a few days since which ought to 
have been answered at once. The fact is, 
hov/ever, that I scarcely get one moment 
alone. Office-seeking in this country, I re- 
gret to say, is getting to be one of the in- 
dustries of the age. It gives me no peace. 
With the adjournment of Congress, how- 
ever, I hope it will be better. 

" Father and Jennie left here last Thurs- 
day after a visit of several weeks. You 
heard, no doubt, that father got a severe 
fall on inauguration day. He is not 



OFFICE-SEEKING AN INDUSTRY. IO9 

much improved, and I fear never will 
entirely recover. It is not probable that 
his injury will shorten his life, but will 
probably make him lame for life. He 
had but little peace ^vhile here. Office- 
seekers were after him from breakfast till 
bedtime. . . . 

''The family are all well and join me in 
love. Yours truly, U. S. GRANT." 

General Grant told me on one occasion 
that during the time of his settlement in 
Washington after the war and his inaugu- 
ration he had an inkling of the extent to 
which office-seeking is carried on in this 
country, having been frequently requested, 
both in letters and viva voce, by persons 
known and unknown to him, to intercede 
in their behalf with the ** powers that be " 
for the purpose of securing offices for them, 
but in comparison with what he expe- 
rienced In this line after his inauguration 
it was as a little flowing brook to the 



no ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

mighty cataract of Niagara. Is it a wonder 
that he calls office-seeking '' one of the in- 
dustries of the age?" Here were, in the 
first place, the Republican senators and 
representatives, who claimed the first con- 
sideration ; then there came friends and 
acquaintances who believed that they had 
a primary claim upon him for themselves or 
their friends or relatives ; then came gov- 
ernors of States and officers of the army and 
navy, and lastly a host of unknown per- 
sons, some of whom brought letters of in- 
troduction or recommendation from friends 
or politicians, while others came in their 
own name. *' The whole business,'* he 
said, "was simply overwhelming." For 
each of the hundreds or thousands of ap- 
pointments there were from ten to twenty, 
and even more, applicants. Of course, the 
majority of the office-seekers had to be 
disappointed. 

To illustrate: It appears from the above 
letter that Father Grant was also daily 



OFFICE-SEEKING AN INDUSTRY. Ill 

besieged with the importunities of many 
office-seekers, whether he was at his own 
home or at his son's in Washington. From 
1867 to 1870 I was consul at Leipzig. 
From the time it had been officially de- 
clared that Grant was elected President of 
the United States until the first of May 
following — that is, during less than five 
months — I received not less than one hun- 
dred and fifty-three written applications 
for different offices, domestic and foreign, 
with the request that I should indorse and 
forward them to the President, accom- 
panied by a personal letter from me to 
him. During the said month of May I 
came home on a leave of absence, and, 
spending a week at the White House, I, 
like Father Grant, was daily besieged by 
office-seekers, and this thing followed me 
to New York and Covington, Ky., during 
the whole of my leave of absence. 

More than this : Certain parties — whis- 
key distillers — approached me and offered 



112 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

me several hundred thousand dollars '' if I 
would go to Washington, reside there, and 
keep on 'good terms ' with the Commis- 
sioner of Internal Revenue." I simply 
replied, " Thy money perish with thee " 
(Acts viii, 20). At that time gold was 
above par, and hence, in a certain sense, 
an article of merchandise. The govern- 
ment sold gold coin or bullion as it was 
needed by bankers or importers, etc. Cer- 
tain other parties approached me and of- 
fered me large sums of money if *' I would 
reside in Washington and procure for them 
the first information when the government 
would throw gold upon the market." 
Knowing what they wanted, I replied, 
'' Gentlemen, I have no right to trade with 
President Grant's name," and, as in the 
other case, I walked away. 

These incidents are mentioned here to 
corroborate Grant's statement, that " of- 
fice-seeking has become one of the indus- 
tries of the age." There are others whose 



OFFICE-SEEKING AN INDUSTRY. II 3 

patriotism is, as Grant said, measured by 
dollars and cents; they will stoop to brib- 
ery and other questionable acts necessary 
to accomplish their object — the enrich- 
ment of themselves by defrauding the gov- 
ernment or the public — and will try to 
use honest and honorable men in or out 
of office. It is sad to see so little con- 
science in some persons who claim to be 
patriots and gentlemen ! 

The general's relatives were frequently 
besieged by office-seekers to use their in- 
fluence with him to secure positions for 
them of some sort or another. So long as 
he was President I received letters of ap- 
plication (during my residence abroad) 
with almost every American mail from 
office-seekers in nearly every part of the 
country, so much so that I suggested to 
him to let it be known that recommen- 
dations from his relatives had no weight 
with him ; and that applicants for office 
must be recommended by the senators 



114 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

and congressmen of their respective 
States, or other well-known and responsi- 
ble parties. On one occasion a young 
lady, whose parents had died and left her 
no means of support (her father was killed 
on the battlefield as an officer), requested 
me by letter to intercede with the Presi- 
dent to give her a clerkship in the Treas- 
ury Department. I wrote to her that the 
President had nothing to do with the ap- 
pointment of clerks in the different de- 
partments ; that she must apply to the 
senators or congressmen of her State, etc. ; 
that therefore I could not comply with her 
request, for it would do no good, however 
much I would like to see her appointed. 
Without securing the influence of these 
lawmakers she went to Washington, 
called on the President, and gave him my 
letter to read. The young lady informed 
me afterward that the President had said 
to her that he was pleased with the ad- 
vice I had given her, and especially that 



OFFICE-SEEKING AN INDUSTRY. II 5 

I didn't bother him with her appHcation, 
and that for that very reason he took pity 
on her and procured for her the desired 
appointment. 

Another instance showing the general's 
kind-heartedness toward and sympathy 
with suffering famihes is the following : 

A boy eighteen years old, the only son of 
a royal officer of high rank in Leipzig, Ger- 
many, had committed a youthful indiscre- 
tion, and, fearing punishment, emigrated to 
New York. Being unable to secure em- 
ployment he enlisted in the United States 
Army. Not being accustomed to the rough 
life of a soldier at the frontier he became 
ill. In his distress he wrote to his parents, 
confessing his wrongdoing, asking their par- 
don, and requesting them to get his gov- 
ernment to intercede in behalf of his dis- 
charge. His father and mother came to 
my office (I was then United States con- 
sul in that city), and with tears in their 
eyes laid the case before me, asking me at 



Il6 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

the same time to plead with the President 
to discharge their only son. I did so, and 
with return mail I received copies of the 
discharge papers from the War Depart- 
ment. The boy returned home a reformed 
young man, and has since become a dis- 
tinguished official. Happier parents and a 
happier son I never saw. 

Another case is equally illustrative of 
the general's sympathy with suffering hu- 
manity : 

A highly respectable family in Copenha- 
gen, consisting of father, mother, and eight 
children (of whom the eldest was a boy 
eighteen years old), lost the husband and 
father by death. Up to that time they 
had nothing for their support but his small 
salary of six hundred dollars. With his 
death that income ceased. The boy had 
been preparing himself for a university 
course ; but now he had to give up his 
studies and work for the support of his in- 
valid mother and her seven small children. 



OFFICE-SEEKING AN INDUSTRY. 11/ 

It was difficult for him to get a position in 
which he could earn more than two dollars 
a week — an insufficient amount for their 
support. 

A position in a New York business ^ 
house was offered to him, with an in- 
come of eight hundred dollars. He came 
to this country, but only to find that the 
firm had failed. Here he was — penniless. 
What should he do? Finding no employ, 
ment he enlisted in the United States 
Army; but his monthly pay, which he 
regularly sent to his mother, was insuf- 
ficient to support the family. A little sis- 
ter of his came to me of her own prompting 
(I was then United States Minister Resi- 
dent in Copenhagen), stated the case of 
her mother and brother, and asked me with 
tears if I could not get him out of the army 
and into a business by which he could sup- 
port the family. I promised that I would 
try. I laid the case before the President 
in almost the same words (in a translated 



Il8 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

form) used by the little girl, whose name 
was Ingeborg. Indue time I was informed 
that the President had ordered the dis- 
charge of Ingeborg's brother, and had se- 
cured for him a position with a salary of 
a thousand dollars. Of course there was 
great joy in that household. The affec- 
tionate son and brother made remittances 
to his mother of fifty dollars every month. 
That same Ingeborg helped her mother, 
educated herself at my advice, learned 
some English, and finally married a well- 
to-do official. Inviting me to the wed- 
ding, she wrote in English, literally, as 
follows : 

*' I am hope that I should marry in Co- 
penhagen at the entrance of August ; you 
are indubitably entitled to be invited ; we 
adjoin our portrats and send them you. 
My loved and I hope you will kondisdaen to 
go to our marriage. My mother send hu- 
meliat respect, and also I adjoin my ven- 
erable humbelness. IxGEBORG L." 



OPTICE-SEEKING AN INDUSTRY. II9 

This is somewhat similar to the remark 
of another Danish young lady, who desired 
to emigrate to this country, " I to love 
America, I enemy Denmark ; " or of a Ger- 
man woman referring to chickens, saying, 
" They are a strange people, I mean a 
curious folk ; " or of a young foreigner 
learning our language, saying, ** I walked 
into English." 



I20 ULYSSES S, GRANT. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Domestic Life» 

The following extracts from two letters 
addressed by the general, one to his sister 
in Copenhagen, and one to his father, give 
glimpses of his domestic life and of what 
he thought of his children. A part of the 
first letter refers to his '' summering " at 
Long Branch, where a Mr. W., a friend of 
his sister, made an unsuccessful attempt to 
see him, not for the purpose of asking for 
an office, but of paying his respects to 
him. 

The following is an extract from the first 
letter mentioned : 

•'Washington, D. C, October 26, 1871. 
'' My Dear Sister : I have been in- 
tending to write you for some time ; but 



DOMESTIC LIFE. 121 

the moment I get into my office in the 
morning it is overwhehned with visitors, 
and continues so through the day. I now 
write of a rainy evening, after having read 
the New York papers. 

" Jennie is with us, has been for some 
days, and will remain until she becomes 
homesick, which, I hope, will not be 
soon. 

*' I received your letter in which you 
gave me an extract from Mr. W.'s. I had 
no recollection or knowledge of the matter 
whatever. The fact is, I am followed 
wherever I go, at Long Branch as well as 
here. I sometimes shake off callers, not 
knowing their business, whom I would be 
delighted to see. In the case of Mr. W., 
however, I do not think that I ever knew 
that he had called. For the first time in 
my life I had arranged to go fishing at 
sea. To do so it was necessary to engage 
fishermen, with boat, beforehand. General 
P. did not know that I had made the 



122 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

arrangement, and probably was not at my 
house when I returned from riding, the 
evening after Mr. W. called. You will 
see the explanation. I will write it to 
Mr. W. 

" Fred, after graduating at West Point, 
accepted a position as assistant civil en- 
gineer, and gave up a good portion of his 
furlough to go to work at his new profes- 
sion. He has been in the Rocky Moun- 
tains since August, surveying, in pursuit of 
his new profession. 

'* But little or nothing can be done in 
the winter by him ; I have, therefore, got 
him a leave of absence from his engineer 
duties to accompany General Sherman 
abroad until the latter part of April. I 
expect him to sail the next month. . . . 
I will instruct him to run up to Copen- 
hagen from a convenient point and spend 
a few days with you. You will find him a 
well-grown and much-improved boy. He 
is about the height Brother Simpson was, 



DOMESTIC LIFE. 123 

and well developed physically. You will 
be pleased with him, I know. 

"During the Harvard vacation, next 
year I intend that Buck and Jesse shall 
„o to Europe also. It may be that in the 
short time they will have to remain abroad 
they may not be able to go up to see you ; 
but I think they will be pleased to do so, 
and may spare time for that purpose. I 
do not know but I owe an apology to Mr. 
Cramer for not answering his letters. All 
have been received, and I have been grat- 
ified with them. But I am so constantly 
pressed that it is almost impossible for me 
to get any time to devote to private corre- 
spondence. 

" AH send our kindest regards to Mr. 
Cramer, and love to you and the chil- 
dren Yours affectionately, 

" U. S. Grant." 
up s — I shall always be delighted to 
receive letters from you and Mr. Cramer, 
whether I answer them or not." 



124 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

The following is an extract from the 
President's letter to his father about his 
children, and will explain itself: 

" Executive Mansion, Washington, 
June 2, 1872. 

"Dear Father: Hearing from home 
frequently as I do, through persons com- 
ing from there and through occasional 
letters, I scarcely ever think of writing. 
Hereafter, however, I will try to write 
oftener or have Jesse write. The children 
might all write to you, for that matter. 
We hear occasionally from Fred direct, 
and very often through the papers. He 
has enjoyed his European trip very much, 
and I think will be much improved by it. 
Nellie writes very often, and isav^erymuch 
better letter-writer than either of the boys 
are. Her composition is easy and fluent, 
and she writes very correctly. She seems 
to have made a very good impression 
where she has been. Buck sails for Europe 



DOMESTIC LIFE. 1 25 

on July 6. He will travel but little, how- 
ever. . . . His object is to acquire a 
speaking knowledge of both the French 
and German languages, both of which he 
is now quite a good scholar in. 

'' I received a letter from Mary a short 
time since. She said that she would leave 
for home about the first of June. You may 
expect her home by the twentieth,no doubt. 
Julia and Jesse are well, and send much 
love to you and mother. 

'' Sincerely yours, U. S. GRANT." 

It is evident from the above extracts 
that the general was very much devoted 
to his children ; that he carefully watched 
their progress in their growth, education, 
etc., and that he thought much of them, 
as well as of his relatives. A more de- 
voted and affectionate husband, father, 
and friend than Grant can scarcely be 
conceived. He was always very careful of 
the feelings of others, and felt sorry when 



126 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

anyone who was not an office-seeker was 
disappointed in not seeing him after an 
effort had been made to that effect. There 
were few, if any, Presidents who carried on 
such an enormous private correspondence 
as he did. He seldom got his private sec- 
retaries to write any of his private letters. 
The following letter, written to his aged 
and feeble father in response to one from 
the latter, expressing a desire to see him 
before the meeting of Congress, shows 
that, notwithstanding the pressure of official 
business in the form of reading the reports 
of the secretaries of the different depart- 
ments and of preparing his own annual 
message to Congress, etc., he was willing 
and glad to please him at the sacrifice of 
his time and convenience : 

"Executive Mansion. Washington, 
November 3, 1872. 
" Dear Father : I am in receipt of Mr. 
Brent's letter, dictated by }'ou expressing 



DOMESTIC LIFE. 12/ 

a wish to see me, if possible, before the 
meeting of Congress. I think it will be 
possible for me to go this week, probably 
leaving here on Thursday or Friday next. 
I would like as far as possible to avoid 
meeting people while there. I hope, there- 
fore, you will say nothing about my com- 
ing. Probably Julia, Fred, Nellie, and 
Jesse will accompany me. You probably 
have not room enough in the house for us 
all ; but that will make no difference. Fred 
and Jesse can stay at the hotel. All are 
quite well. Yours truly, 

"U. S. Grant." 

The following letter on the same subject 
shows the general's anxiety for his father's 
condition : 

•' Executive Mansion, Washington, 
May 31, 1873. 

" Dear Sister: I am just in receipt of 
your letter speaking of father's rapid de- 
cline. 0( course, I will go home at any 



128 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

day that it may be necessary for me to 
do so. I have been absent so much this 
spring that business has accumulated so 
that I cannot go very well just now, and 
next Thursday I have arranged to take us 
all to Long Branch. Any time after that 
I can go as well as not, and would not let 
that interfere if there should be a necessity. 
Don't fail to keep me advised of father's 
condition. Yours truly, 

'' U. S. Grant." 

Speaking one day of his parents the 
general said that his father was a remark- 
able man, naturally smart, with strong con- 
victions, well read and intelligent, with a 
fine poetic mind ; so much so that if he 
had had a superior education he would have 
become an excellent poet. Of his mother 
he said that she was the best woman he 
had ever known ; unselfish, devoted to her 
family, thoroughly good, conscientious, in- 
telligent, of a quiet and amiable disposition, 



DOMESTIC LIFE. 1 29 

never meddling with other persons* affairs, 
genuinely pious without any cant, with a 
strong sense of right and justice ; unob- 
trusive, kind-hearted, and attached to her 
Church and country. I said, " General, 
you have most of your mother's character- 
istics ;" to which he simply replied, "Yes, 
I think so." 

Speaking of religion and devotion to the 
Church, he told me that on the occasion 
of a communion service being held in the 
Metropolitan Methodist Episcopal Church, 
in Washington, he requested Schuyler 
Colfax, who occupied a pew in front of the 
general's, to accompany him to the com- 
munion table, being anxious to partake of 
the holy communion ; but he declined to 
go, "and so I, too, stayed away," the 
general said. This is an illustration of the 
influence of example. He thought that if 
professed Christians were more consistent 
in their practice the churches would be 

better attended and do more good. I told 
9 



130 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

him that this was no excuse for not join- 
ing church, for counterfeit money presup- 
poses genuine money, and so hypocrisy 
argues genuine piety. He admitted the 
truth of this statement, but said that 
people do not always think of it in that 
light. 



IN SWITZERLAND AND FRANCE. 13I 



CHAPTER XVI. 
General Grant in Switzerland and France. 
Persons who have traveled in Switzer- 
land will read with interest the following 
letter from his pen in reply to one inviting 
him to visit us in Copenhagen : 

" Ragatz, Switzerland, August 13, 1877. 
" My Dear Mr. Cramer : Before leav- 
ing England I had accepted invitations to 
visit cities and country houses in Scotland 
— and places in England not yet visited by 
me — to take up all the month of Septem- 
ber and part of October. I thought there 
was time for me to visit this interesting 
country and to make a run through Den- 
mark, Sweden, and Norway, and get back 
to Scotland in time to keep my engage- 
ments. But I have found so much of in- 



132 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

terest here, and the modes of conveyance 
so slow in reaching the points of greatest 
interest, that it is aheady too late to even 
go to Denmark, leaving out Norway and 
Sweden. Already we have spent eight 
actual days in carriages in getting from 
point to point, exclusive of other modes of 
travel. We have visited most of the lakes 
and crossed the principal passes in Switzer- 
land and northern Italy. It has all been 
exceedingly interesting to me, the greatest 
regret being that I had not more time. I 
intend yet to visit Denmark and the 
countries north of it ; but whether this fall 
or next season is not yet determined ; 
probably about next June. 

*' I am sorry not to be able to see Mary 
before she returns to America. I do not 
expect to return there before next July a 
year, and possibly not so early. 

"All send love to Mary and the children, 
with kindest regards for yourself. 

"Very truly yours, U. S. Grant." 



IN SWITZERLAND AND FRANCE. 1 33 

The following letter has a general Inter- 
est. It was written in response to one 
from me concerning the case of a foreign 
diplomatist. It shows the willingness of 
General Grant to do justice to all parties, 
whatever their nationality or stations in 

life : 

"Paris, France, November 27, 1877. 

'' My Dear Mr. Cramer: I am just in 
receipt of your letter of the 21st instant, in- 
closing one from the Portuguese Minister 
—I suppose — to Denmark, recounting the 
cause of his brother-in-law's removal from 
the diplomatic service, etc. I knew Baron 
de S. and the baroness very well, and es- 
teemed them very highly. There was 
never any difficulty with him in the State 
Department, or with any official in Wash- 
ington, that I have any recollection of. I 
am very sure that no cause of complaint 
could have existed on our part without 
my knowing it. It would afford me the 
greatest pleasure to meet the baron and 



134 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

his wife during my European tour, but I 
fear I shall not be able to do so. My trip 
through Spain and Portugal has been put 
off, or at least postponed, for this year. 
On Saturday we leave here for the south 
of France, from there to take a naval ves- 
sel to visit all points of Interest on the 
Mediterranean. We will probably go up 
the Nile, and put In the winter in a warm 
climate, to be ready for our northern tour 
in the spring. It Is barely possible that 
when we return from our trip up the Nile 
we may go on east through China, Japan, 
etc., over to San Francisco. But this is not 
probable for another year. This will prob- 
ably be the last opportunity I shall ever 
-have of visiting Europe, and there is much 
to see that I have not seen, and cannot this 
winter. 

" I hear from home occasionally, but not 
as often as probably you do. All were well 
by the last advices — received two days ago 
from Orville. 



IN SWITZERLAND AND FRANCE. 1 3$ 

" Please assure your colleague that I have 
no recollection of other than the most 
pleasant relations between United States 
officials and the Baron de S. 

" With kind regards from Mrs. Grant, 
Jesse, and myself, I am very truly yours, 
'' U. S. Grant." 



no ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

In Egypt, Jemsalem, Ephesus, Constantinople, etc« 

The following letter has, to some extent, 
an historic interest, in that it, among other 
things, describes the condition of Constan- 
tinople at the time the Russian army be- 
sieged it : 

" Constantinople, March 5, 1875. 
" My Dear Mr. Cramer : On my ar- 
rival here I found your letter specially in- 
quiring about the time I expect to be in 
Copenhagen. My plan is to be in Sweden 
by the middle of June, and after visiting 
that country and Norway to return byway 
of Copenhagen. It is not likely that I 
will be there before the fifth to the tenth 
of July ; and it may be that I will like the 
northern country so well that my visit to 



IN EGYPT, JERUSALEM, ETC. 1 3/ 

Copenhagen will be postponed even a 
month longer. We have had a delightful 
winter. Over a month was spent in Egypt, 
visiting the old ruins of that country under 
the most favorable circumstances. 

'' Leaving Cairo, we visited Suez and 
passed through the Suez Canal to Port 
Said. From the latter place we went to 
Joppa and out to Jerusalem. Since then 
we visited Ephesus and Smyrna, and are 
now here. The Russians are outside of 
the city, but do not come in. A stranger 
would not detect, from appearances, that 
an enemy was so near. In fact, I think 
the Turks now regard Russians as about the 
only people in Europe from whom they 
can expect anything. 

** When you write home give my love to 
mother, Mary and the children, and Jennie. 

" I will inform you later, when I know 
definitely, about the time to expect me in 
Copenhagen. Very truly yours, 

"U. S.Grant." 



138 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

Referring, in our conversations at a later 
date, to the siege of Constantinople by the 
Russians, General Grant said that he never 
knew of a besieged place where so little of 
warlike preparations were seen as in that 
city at the time he was there. Concerning 
Abdul-Hamid II, Sultan of Turkey, with 
whom he dined, he said that he appeared 
to be a man familiar with the manners and 
customs of the European Christian nations, 
and not averse to them ; that he seemed 
to be well versed in geography and mili- 
tary affairs ; an intelligent and kind-hearted 
ruler who earnestly desired to promote 
the welfare of his people ; but that he 
seemed to be in a state of unrest and ap- 
prehension, though he tried to conceal it 
all the time. The general thought that 
though the Sultan was not a bigoted Mo- 
hammedan he was, nevertheless, under the 
control of the Old Turkish party, which is 
opposed to every liberal or constitutional 
movement, as well as to all Christian in- 



IN EGYPT, JERUSALEM, ETC. 1 39 

fluences, and that, therefore, the Christians 
of his empire could expect few, if any, fa- 
vors at his hand. He thought it strange 
that though Russia began a war with Tur- 
key and conquered it, " the Turks regarded 
the Russians as about the only people in 
Europe from whom they can expect any- 
thing." The reason of this he thought he 
saw in the autocratic form of government 
of both countries, both being determined 
to repress all liberal sentiments, even at 
the expense, if need be, of the Christian 
inhabitants of Turkey.* Personally, the 
general liked the sultan very much and 
was highly pleased with his interview with 
him. 

Concerning his visit to Jerusalem he 
said that the impressions he received there 
were of a mixed character. Nowhere are 

* This shows how correct General Grant's judgment 
was of the state of affairs in Turkey at the time he was 
there, and how clearly he foresaw the future action of 
that country in reference to the Christian inhabitants 
thereof. 



140 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

the retarding effects of Mohammedanism 
upon the people more apparent, so far as 
he knew, than in that city. They are woe- 
fully behind the age there. How different 
is the present city from that described by 
David : " The perfection of beauty, the 
joy of the whole earth." And yet it is 
true of it to-day what is said of it in the 
Psalms: ''Jerusalem is builded as a city 
that is compact together." He said he 
never felt so solemn in his life as he did in 
the presence of the places made memorable 
and sacred by the presence of Jesus Christ. 
While he had not studied the predictions 
of the Bible concerning Jerusalem and 
Palestine, yet, from what he had heard, 
read, and seen, he could not help noticing 
that some of them had been fulfilled. 



MORE LETTERS. I4I 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

More Letters from General Grant, 
It was not the intention of General 
Grant to keep me informed of all his move- 
ments, but only of those relating to his in- 
tended visit to Copenhagen, during which 
time my wife and children were in this 
country for the purpose of letting the lat- 
ter attend school, that they might become, 
not " Europeanized," but '' Americanized." 
This observation is made in explanation of 
the general's references, in several of his 
letters, to " Mary and the children." 

" Hotel Liverpool, Paris, May 25, 1878. 

*' My Dear Mr. Cramer: I am now 

for the first time able to fix, approximately, 

the time of my visit to Copenhagen. We 

will leave here on Saturday, three weeks 



142 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

from to-day, or on the following Tuesday. 
We will stop at The Hague three or four 
days. Jesse leaves for home so as to take 
the steamer on the 4th of June from Liv- 
erpool. Our party, therefore, will consist 
only of Mrs. Grant — with her maid — and 
myself. If your arrangements are made to 
be away from Copenhagen at the time 
mentioned above I beg that you will not 
change your plans. Should you be there 
we will probably remain over about one 
week. Should you be away we will stop 
only a couple of days. 

" I have not heard directly from Eliza- 
beth for some time: probably my own 
fault, for Mr. Corbin is very prompt in an- 
swering every letter. But Buckey writes 
regularly every week from New York, so I 
hear indirectly. When you write give my 
love to all of them at Elizabeth. 

*' Very truly yours, U. S. GRANT." 
'' P. S. — I go from Copenhagen directly 
to Stockholm. I am not personally ac- 



MORE LETTERS. 143 

quainted with our present minister there, 
though I once appointed him to a South 
American mission. U. S. G." 

"Paris, France, June 3, 1878. 

** My Dear Mr. Cramer : Your letter 
of the 31st of May is just received. I 
should have written to you within a day 
or two to inform you of a slight change of 
plan, which will bring me to Copenhagen 
from ten days to two weeks later than I 
wrote you I should be there, even if I had 
not received your letter. To save retracing 
my steps, as I should be obliged to do by 
the routes laid out in my last letter, I now 
intend to go from The Hague to Berlin, 
and visit a few German cities before going 
to Denmark. From Copenhagen I shall 
go by water to Norway, thence to Sweden, 
St. Petersburg, Moscow, and to Vienna. 

'' I shall be very glad indeed to see 
Mary and the children, and hope they 
may be back by the time I reach Copen- 



144 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

hagen, about from the 5th to the loth of 
July. 

'* Jesse sails from Liverpool to-morrow 
for home. He has been very homesick for 
some time. 

** With best regards from Mrs. Grant and 
myself, I am very truly yours, 

*' U. S. Grant." 

" Hanover, Germany, June 25, 1878. 
" My Dear Mr. Cramer : Mrs. Grant 
and I are now here on our way to the 
German capital. We will probably remain 
in Berlin until Monday, the 1st of July. 
We will stop over by the way from Ber- 
lin to Copenhagen — particularly at Ham- 
burg — so as to reach Copenhagen about 

July 5. 

"If you will drop me a line to the Kai- 
serhof Hotel, in Berlin, to let me know if 
Mary will be home at the time designated, 
I will be obliged. If she is not to be at 
home I may change my plan and go 



MORE LETTERS. I45 

direct to Sweden, thence to Norway, and 
return south to Denmark. 

" Mrs. Grant and I are both well, and 
send much love to Mary and the children. 
*' Very truly yours, 

*' U. S. Grant." 

"Berlin, Germany, June 29, 1878. 
*' My Dear Mr. Cramer : I have re- 
ceived your last letter, and am sorry to 
learn that Mary and the children will not 
be in Copenhagen at the time I propose 
being there. We will go on, however, as 
previously proposed, leaving here on 
Tuesday, the 3d of July, remain over the 
4th, and possibly the 5th at Hamburg, 
reaching Copenhagen the same day. I 
win telegraph you from Hamburg the day 
and the hour of our departure and the 
line by which we will travel. 
" Very truly yours, 

" U. S. Grant.*' 
10 



[46 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



CHAPTER XIX. 
Various Conversations with General Grant, 
It was stated at the beginning that 
General and Mrs. Grant arrived in Copen- 
hagen on the morning of the 6th of July, 
1878, and remained there as my guests 
until the 1 2th of the same month, when 
they left by steamer for Christiania, Nor- 
way. During these six days we discussed 
many subjects, the leading thoughts of 
which I entered in my diary, which are 
here reproduced in their outhne. Among 
the topics of our conversation was 

PRINCE BISMARCK. 

Omitting my own remarks I give here 
the substance of the general's observa- 
tions. He said that he had spent several 
very interesting hours with Prince Bis- 



CONVERSATIONS. H/ 

marck, whom he considered one of the 
most charming and instructive conversa- 
tionalists he had ever met with, overflowing 
with humor and wit, and throwing hght 
on every subject he discussed. '* Putting 
company at their ease, Bismarck entertains 
and amuses them for hours as few are able 
to do. Sometimes in a few words he 
draws the character of a prominent man 
or woman or a nation so correctly that it is 
really surprising, or he gives the gist of an 
event in a single sentence. He has a 
magnificent physique, and seems to be 
born to his high position. He is no doubt 
the greatest statesman of the present time. 
He knows how to make events and persons 
subserve his purpose. He loves to talk, 
and is courteous and kind to everyone in 
his presence. There are always ' points ' 
in his conversation, and he knows how to 
draw out from men what he wants to know 
from them. His brief descriptions of men 
and nations are as humorous as they are 



148 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

generally correct. He may sometimes be 
arbitrary in his measures and views, but 
he seems to be always sincere and have 
the good of the emperor and of the father- 
land at heart. I noticed that he thought 
a great deal of the old emperor. Germany 
owes much to Bismarck, whatever may be 
said of his autocratic bearing. Like my- 
self, he enjoys a good cigar, and there we 
met on a footing of equality." 

Of the German people the general said 
that what he had thus far seen of them 
and their country pleased him greatly. 
Everywhere the soil was under good culti- 
vation ; the people seemed to be intelligent 
and thrifty, loving their beer, tobacco, and 
fatherland. 

VIEWS OF AMERICAN NATIONALITY. 

The feeling of American nationality 
was highly developed in General Grant. 
In conversing with him on home affairs I 
asked him if he believed that our country 



CONVERSATIONS. I49 

would remain united. He replied in sub- 
stance that since the late civil war the 
feeling of nationality had become stronger 
than it had ever been before. Our people 
take now a greater pride in being '' Ameri- 
cans " than in being " Virginians " or " New 
Yorkers,' * etc. Local government, he said, 
far from diminishing the feeling of nation- 
ality, rather strengthens it. The idea of 
self-government is intensely developed 
among our people. No monarchy could 
ever be established here. According to him 
the strong feeling of nationality embracing 
the whole country has a tendency to as- 
similate all the various elements of our 
people — race, languages, customs, etc. — 
under our common political institutions. 
There are now fewer elements of real 
danger in the United States arising from 
the solution of the problem of nationality 
than there are in any other great and 
growing people. State after State has 
been taken into the Union without having 



\. 



I50 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

a population alien in race, language, man- 
ners, customs, education, etc. This has 
been a fortunate thing for us. Civil and 
religious liberty, local and self-government, 
and our excellent common-school system 
have contributed largely toward gradually 
absorbing the immigrants and making our 
people a homogeneous nation. Hence no 
section of our country is inhabited with 
a hostile people — a fortunate thing for us. 
Excepting a few anarchists and other dis- 
contented foreigners we have no hostile 
people to contend against, for the majority 
of the foreigners that land annually on our 
shores come here to work and improve 
their personal and domestic condition. 
They are generally peaceable, if not excited 
by anarchists and half-educated lazy fel- 
lows. 

In speaking of the means for preserving 
the Union and perpetuating our institu- 
tions General Grant said that great care 
should be taken to extend our common- 



CONVERSATIONS. 151 

school system to every nook and corner 
of our vast country, and to bring that 
system to its highest perfection ; to cul- 
tivate in the rising generation love of 
country or true patriotism, and instill in 
their minds the idea of the indissoluble- 
ness of the Union. They should be taught 
*' not to love Caesar less, but Rome more ; " 
that is to say, while loving the home 
State, they should love the country more. 
Hard sectional feelings should give way to 
brotherly love for the whole American 
family. Now, that the cause of the late 
great strife is forever removed, the whole 
nation, as one great family, should culti- 
vate genuine brotherly feelings and en- 
deavor to perpetuate the union of the 
States, the principles of the Declaration of 
Independence, and constitutional liberty. 

Another safeguard of our liberties the 
general saw in our Protestant Churches 
and Sunday schools. While we have no 
State religion — and this is as it should 



152 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

be — yet we are in reality a Christian 
nation which owes much to the teachings 
of the Bible through the Churches and 
Sunday schools. There can be no ques- 
tion, in his opinion, as to the fact that the 
various humanitarian institutions in the 
several States owe their existence indi- 
rectly to the teachings of Christianity. 
He was glad to notice that there was so 
much religious activity in our country ; 
and if the Churches and Sunday schools 
continue to do their duty, the danger 
growing out of lawlessness, anarchy, and 
the secret machinations of a countryless 
enemy will be diminished and overcome. 
The permeation of our people with the 
principles of Christianity will aid them in 
absorbing the promiscuous crowds of Eu- 
ropean immigrants and assimilating them 
in the body politic. But, notwithstanding 
this, greater restrictions ought to be laid 
upon immigration. No paupers, no crim- 
inals, no cripples, and none who are unable 



CONVERSATIONS. 1 53 

to read and Aviite, ought to be permitted 
to land on our shores ; while the franchise 
should be extended only to those foreign- 
ers who have in reality been five years in 
this country and are able to read and write. 
As to the Chinese immigrants, that is a 
problem that needs still further careful 
consideration. 

Another thought of the general's was 
that no portion of our people ought to be 
subject to the dictation of a foreign poten- 
tate so far as their civil relations to the 
State are concerned. It might lead to 
dangerous complications, as is seen in 
Germany and Austria-Hungary and else- 
where ; or it might lead to the overthrow 
of our civil institutions and religious liberty. 
It behooves our people to be on their guard 
in this m^ltter, and not to elect men to 
legislatures and Congress, and to other re- 
sponsible positions, who, for some reason 
or other, are influenced by foreign dictation. 
In this particular matter, as in every other 



154 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

dangerous affair, the general thought that 
'' Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." 
The State authorities,the general thought, 
should never make any appropriation for 
any sectarian school or institution. It 
would be unjust to the taxpayer as well as 
to those denominations that receive no 
such grant ; nor should these authorities 
provide religious instruction for the chil- 
dren in our public schools, though he had 
no objections to the reading of a few verses 
from the New Testament and the saying 
of the Lord's Prayer at the beginning of 
school hours. 

As to the relations of capital and labor, 
he thought the government should never 
interfere in them, except to protect both 
alike from violence. This problem will ad- 
just itself if left to the parties concerned 
under this law of protection. 

He thought it a wise provision that only 
native citizens are eligible to be elected 
President of the United States, though in 



CONVERSATIONS. ^55 

all Other respects he favored the equality 
of all citizens alike ; while all citizens 
should recognize the indivisibility and su- 
premacy of the sovereignty of the United 
States ; and those citizens who acknowl- 
edge and act under any other (foreign) su- 
preme power should be deprived of the 
rights and privileges of citizenship. On 
the other hand, our government should 
protect all its citizens alike, at home and 
abroad. 



$6 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



CHAPTER XX. 

How President Grant Vetoed the So-called '^Inflation 
Bill/' 

In September, 1873, a financial panic 
swept over the country, causing many 
business failures and disturbing the money 
markets of the world. The Forty-third 
Congress of the United States, that con- 
vened in the following December, grappled 
with this subject. The refunding of the 
public debt and the movement for the re- 
sumption of specie payment were checked 
for a while. There were many well-mean- 
ing men in and out of Congress who advo- 
cated so-called " fiat-money " in the form of 
an unusually large issue of " greenbacks." 
Even President Grant, at the beginning of 
the session of that Congress, had almost 
come to the same conclusion ; for in his 



THE "INFLATION BILL. I 5/ 

annual message he said, among other 
things : *' I do not believe that there is too 
much of it [greenback circulation] now for 
the dullest period of the year." 

During the latter part of its session that 
Congress passed what was then called " the 
inflation bill," and urged the President to 
sign it. 

But in the meantime he had studied the 
question more carefully, especially that 
phase of it relating to our national credit 
abroad, and had arrived at a more conserv- 
ative conclusion. Residing in Copenha- 
gen at that time, I studied public opinion 
in Europe on that subject as expressed 
by the leading journals of England, Ger- 
many, and France, as well as by my col- 
leagues in private conversations, and know- 
ing that my letters to him on any subject 
were always welcome I wrote him privately 
a strong letter, stating what I had thus 
learned, namely, that that bill, if it became 
law, would strike a blow at our national 



158 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

credit in Europe, from the effects of which 
our country would not recover for a long 
time. The financial world in Europe was 
then on tiptoe to learn whether the Presi- 
dent would sign or veto that bill. 

Well, he did veto it, notwithstanding 
many Republican senators, and repre- 
sentatives for several days urged upon 
him the necessity of signing it. By that 
act, I told him, he rendered our country a 
service that, in my judgment, was, in im- 
portance, second to none of the battles he 
had won during the war. 

He said that he never had any reason to 
regret having vetoed that bill, and then 
briefly described how he had prepared his 
veto message. I give it here substantially 
as he told it. 

The first evening after the bill had been 
brought to him, and after the callers had 
left the White House, he read it over very 
carefully, and then sat down at his desk 
and wrote out all the reasons he could think 



THE "INFLATION BILL. I 59 

of in favor of his signing it. Laying his man- 
uscript in a drawer he retired for the night. 

The following evening, after having care- 
fully listened to all the arguments that 
senators and congressmen had urged upon 
him in the course of the day and evening in 
favor of the bill, he sat down to write out 
all the arguments he could muster against 
it, and, laying it beside the first manuscript, 
he retired for the night. 

On the third evening he carefully read 
over both documents, reflecting for a while 
on the relative strength or weight of their 
respective arguments. 

On the following morning he had come 
to the conclusion that, in order to avert 
a still greater financial calamity in the 
near future, the requirements of the exist- 
ing situation, as well as the honor of the 
nation, demanded of him to veto the bill, 
and he caused his second document to be 
copied and the necessary formulas to be 
added, and, having thus prepared his cele- 



l6o ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

brated veto message against signing the 
" inflation bill," he sent it to the Forty- 
third Congress. 

It required a great deal of moral courage 
to veto that bill, passed as it had been by 
a Republican Congress. He told me that 
for several days he was uncertain what to 
do in the matter, for men in whose wis- 
dom, statesmanship, and patriotism he had 
the fullest confidence, urged upon him the 
necessity of signing it ; while, on the other 
hand, there were other men, equally wise 
and patriotic, who strongly advised him to 
veto it, pointing out the disastrous conse- 
quences that would follow from the bill be- 
coming a law. But he took into considera- 
tion the necessity of maintaining the finan- 
cial integrity of our country in the presence 
of the financial world of Europe. He told 
me that my letter on the subject, above 
referred to, influenced his mind in the right 
direction, because I had studied the ques- 
tion from the European point of view. 



THE ♦' INFLATION BILL.'* l6l 

Whatever may be said to the contrary, 
Grant was extremely conscientious, and 
carefully studied every question laid before 
him for decision or action. His sole de- 
sire was to serve the whole country con- 
scientiously and to the best of his ability. 
He told me that often during the sessions 
of Congress, after a day's hard work, and 
after having met the claims of society in 
the evening, he sat up till long after mid- 
night to study the various cases and ques- 
tions that had been submitted to him for 
action. He fully felt the tremendous re- 
sponsibility of his office. 

I asked him if he ever prayed for wisdom 
and guidance. He replied, ''Yes, I often 
prayed silently to God at night and dur- 
ing the day that he might aid me in the 
performance of my duties, though I said 
nothing to anyone about it. I believe in 
the necessity of prayer, though I don't 

want to boast about it." 
11 



l62 ULVSSES S. GRANT. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Grant^s Views About English Rule in India — ^Impor- 
tance of Christian Missions, 

The following letter, addressed to me 
while still residing in Copenhagen, will be 
read with interest, as it clearly expresses 
Grant's views about English rule in India, 
as also his own and his wife's views of the 
work done by missionaries, especially in 
the educational line : 

"Rangoon, Burma, March 20, 1879, 
'' My Dear Mr. Cramer : We have 
now been very well through India, and 
are this far on our way to the farther 
East. The weather has been pleasant un- 
til within the last few days. But now it 
is becoming very warm, and as we have 
yet to go through the Straits of Malacca, 



ENGLISH RULE IN INDIA. 163 

near the equator, before turning north, we 
must expect some discomfort. 

" I have been very much pleased with 
English rule and English hospitality in 
India. With that rule two hundred and 
fifty million of uncivilized people are liv- 
ing at peace with each other, and are not 
only drawing their subsistence from the 
soil, but are exporting a large excess over 
imports from it. 

*' It would be a sad day for the people 
of India and for the commerce of the 
world if the English should withdraw. 

'* We hope to be in Hong Kong by the 
middle of April, and farther north in 
China as soon thereafter as possible. 
When a good climate is reached we will 
regulate our further movements by the 
reports of weather on seas to be traversed 
and climate of places to be visited. At 
present, however, we expect to reach San 
Francisco about the first half of July. Al- 
though homesick to be settled down, I 



164 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

dread getting back. The clamor of the 
partisan and so-called independent press 
will be such as to make life there unpleas- 
ant for a time. 

*' Mrs. Grant joins me in love to you, 
Mary, and the children. 

" I have to-day written a letter to Mr. 
Corbin. " Very truly yours, 

'' U. S. Grant." 

*'P. S. — Julia asks me to add, and to 
tell Mary, that the English speak in the 
highest terms of the work being done 
all through this country by the mission- 
aries, especially in an educational way. 
They say they are doing much good." 

" U. S. G." 

During a visit my wife and myself made 
at General Grant's home, No. 3 Sixty- 
sixth Street, New York city, from Feb- 
ruary 2 to February 9, 1882, I took 
occasion to make further inquiries of the 
general relative to the subjects touched 



ENGLISH RULE IN INDIA. 165 

upon in the above letter. Referring to 
English rule In India, he said, '^ that if it 
were not for the fact that the English 
government was ruling that vast country 
India would still be benighted and down- 
trodden." While he did not approve all 
that that government had done in that 
country, yet it owed to England the high 
degree of Christian civilization everywhere 
apparent there. "Agriculture, industry, 
commerce, education, railroads, etc., intro- 
duced and improved by the English, have 
started that country on a career of pros- 
perity without which it would not even be 
as far advanced as the Chinese are. It is, 
after all. Christian civilization that raises 
the people of pagan countries in the scale 
of intelligent beings." I asked him if he 
did not believe Christianity to be the 
prime factor in our rnodern Christian civ- 
ilization? He replied, "Certainly I do; 
and it is to be hoped that the Eastern 
nations will come to see it and adopt its 



1 66 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

fundamental principles." I further asked 
him if, judging from what he had seen 
and heard in these Eastern countries con- 
cerning Christian missions, he believed it 
to be justifiable in the different missionary 
societies of Christian countries to spend 
annually as much money as they do in the 
prosecution and maintenance of missionary 
work in the countries referred to ? He 
replied : " Most certainly I do. If the 
missionaries, in connection with preaching, 
endeavor to educate the people, especially 
the rising generation, and cause them 
to be taught the Western arts of peace, 
that is, to improve their methods of carry- 
ing on agriculture and manufacture, as well 
as their modes of transportation ; if they 
establish schools for all classes alike, and 
try to raise woman from her degraded 
position, the ultimate effects will be worth 
infinitely more than all the money the 
Churches may have expended on these 
enterprises. It is to be hoped that these 



ENGLISH RULE IN INDIA. 167 

missionaries will be sustained at home and 
in the countries in which they labor. They 
deserve it, for they do a noble and a good 
work." 

Referring again to India, he said that it 
is one of the most remarkable facts in his- 
tory that fifty or sixty thousand Englishmen, 
to say nothing of other Europeans and some 
Americans, manage a population in India 
of about two hundred and fifty millions, 
keep them in peace, and gradually teach 
them the Western civilization. It shows 
the superiority of the Christian religion 
over the pagan religions; " for," he further 
said, ** there can be no doubt that religion, 
whatever its form may be, greatly influ- 
ences the private and public life of a people 
and advances or retards their improvement 
in what we call civilization." 

In reference to China he said that its 
people are very conservative and shrewd, 
disinclined to accept anything of our 
Western civilization, and hence far behind 



1 68 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

in what makes a nation truly great and 
strong. '' I was treated very kindly while 
there," he said, " and they listened atten- 
tively to what I had to say to them. In 
some things they followed my advice, and 
I think it was for their advantage." The 
general thought that the commerce be- 
tween the United States and China is not 
sufficiently developed ; that the English are 
ahead of us ; that we should send consuls 
there well qualified for the task of study- 
ing the best methods of extending the 
commerce between the two countries, and 
report the results of their investigations 
and the suggestions they have to make to 
our government ; while the latter should 
encourage our merchants and manufac- 
turers to seek a market for their respective 
goods in that country by concluding with 
it the necessary treaties to facilitate and 
protect the commerce and the life and 
property of all engaged in it. We should 
give the Chinese to understand that we do 



ENGLISH RULE IN INDIA. 169 

not come for conquest or to take undue 
advantage of them, but simply to extend 
the commerce between the two countries, 
and thus to establish friendly relations be- 
tween them. The Chinese are shy of 
foreigners ; they have some reason for it ; 
but we should give them to understand 
that we seek nothing more than friendly 
commercial relations, in which both parties 
have an equal chance. 

Concerning Japan the general said that 
he was greatly astonished at the progress 
they had made up to the time he was 
there. No Eastern country had pleased 
him so much as Japan. Its government 
had introduced many things of our Western 
civilization both in the army and navy 
and in civil life. He was highly pleased 
with her school system, especially with 
her technical schools, and with the fact 
that the English language is taught in 
them. He considered the emperor one 
of the most intelligent and progressive 



I/O ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

rulers of our time in the East, while the 
people, too, have made wonderful progress, 
considering that they are orientals. On my 
asking the general about the report of his 
having acted as the mediator between 
China and Japan in a certain important 
question pending at that time between 
the two governments, he smilingly said 
that he would rather not talk about him- 
self, though it was true that he did effect 
a compromise, and thus averted a war, 
at least for some years. He did not ap- 
prove the manner in which some of the 
European governments treat Japan. He 
advised the latter to enter into closer 
commercial relations with the United 
States, as Japan had nothing to fear from 
us except a fair commercial rivalry, 



DESIRE TO PLEASE. I /I 



CHAPTER XXII. 
Grant^s Desire to Please his Friends and Relatives. 
THE following " Letter of Introduction " 
shows General Grant's willingness to please 
his friends, and to aid them in " having a 
good time : " 

" New York City, May a, 1883. 
'' My Dear Mr. Cramer: This letter 
will present the Hon. Charles H. A. and 
family, friends of mine and neighbors 
in this city. Mr. A. goes abroad to see 
the Old World, and will probably re- 
main there for a year or more. No doubt 
his summer travel will carry him mto 
Switzerland, where I hope you may meet 

him. 

'' Mr. A. has been a personal as well as 
political friend of mine, and I hope you 



172 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

will be able to make his and his family's 
visit to the Swiss capital pleasant. 

" Very truly yours, U. S. Grant.' * 

The following extracts from two letters 
— the one addressed to his sister, Mrs. 
Corbin, and the other to his niece. Miss 
Clara V. Cramer — show his solicitude for 
his relatives who, at the time the financial 
disaster overtook him, were residing in 
Berne, Switzerland. When the first letter 
was written the extent of that disaster 
was not yet fully known : 

" New York City, May 8, 1884. 

" Dear Jennie : I presume Fred has 
written to you — or will write — of the great 
disaster to the firm of Grant & Ward. He 
and I will endeavor to keep you from harm. 
. . . We are all well, and are trying to be 
happy. Do not be the slightest uneasy. 

** Give our love to Mr. and Mrs. Cramer 
and dear Clara. Yours affectionately, 

♦' U. S. Grant." 



DESIRE TO PLEASE. 1/3 

" NO. 3 East Sixty-sixth Street, 
New York City, June lo, 1884. 
<' Dear Clara: Your letter, with one 
from your Aunt Jennie, reached me a few 
days since. I regret that I have not more 
cheerful news to write you than I have. 
Financially the Grant family is ruined for 
the present, and by the most stupendous 
frauds ever perpetrated. But your Aunt 
Jennie must not fret over it. . . . Fred is 
young and active, honest and intelligent, 
and will work with a vim to recuperate his 
losses. Of course, his first effort will be to 
repay his aunts. We go to Long Branch 
this week. We expected to live with Fred 
this summer in Morristown, N. J. But 
failing to rent our cottage we will occupy 
it, and Fred will live with us and rent his, 
if he can. 

'' All send love to you, your father and 
mother and Aunt Jennie. 

** Yours affectionately, 

'' U. S. Grant.*' 



1/4 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

Grant's integrity and moral heroism never 
shone more brilliantly than during and sub- 
sequent to the terrible financial disaster 
above referred to. Conscious of his rec- 
titude, integrity, and honesty, he felt all 
the more keenly the insinuations, etc., that 
were for a short time thrown out against 
him by malicious parties. The heroic for- 
titude and silence with which he carried 
himself under those terribly trying ordeals 
were truly sublime, and, together with the 
magnificent patience he displayed during 
his long illness and approaching death, 
stamped him one of the world's greatest 
moral heroes. Right, justice, and virtue 
will always triumph in the end. 



WRITING HIS MEMOIRS. 175 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Grant Engaged in Writing his Memoirs. 

The following extract is from one of 
General Grant's last letters written before 
his death. It is addressed to his sister, 
Mrs. Cramer, who was residing at that date 
in Berne, Switzerland : 

" New York City, January 13, 1885. 

"Dear Sister: I am just in receipt 
of Jennie's letter of the 2d of January. 
I am busy on my book, which Fred is 
copying for the press. I hope to have 
it ready for the press by May next. But 
I may fail in this on account of weak- 
ness. 

" My mouth has been very sore, but not 
so bad, I think, as some of the newspa- 
pers have made out. But it has been bad 



176 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

enough. The balance of the family are 
all well. 

** I presume Jennie will be away before 
this reaches you. . . . All send love. 
** Yours affectionately, 

'' U. S. Grant." 



AS A MAN AND FRIEND. 177 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Grant as a Man and Friend. 

General Grant was ever careful of the 
feelings of others, whether they were his 
friends or not. He never, consciously or 
willingly, hurt the feelings of anybody. He 
never spoke derogatively of anybody. If 
he expressed his opinion of any person that 
was not flattering to that person it con- 
tained nothing but his honest judgment 
expressed in a spirit of kindness. 

He never used profane language. He 
told me that the nearest approach he made 
to swearing was the use of the word "con- 
founded." Nor did he ever tell *' smutty " 
anecdotes or allow others to tell such in 
his presence. At a certain summer resort 
he happened to be in a company of men 
one of whom was about to tell such a 



178 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

story, and, looking around, asked, "Are 
there any ladles here?" The general re- 
plied, " No, but there are gentlemen here." 
That man did not relate his anecdote. 

He had a quiet way of getting rid of 
obtrusive persons. At that same place he 
was one morning about to take a walk in 
the woods, when a lady emerged from a 
company of her female friends and accosted 
him thus: ''General, we are also about to 
take a walk; would you be willing to ac- 
company us ? " He simply replied, " Mad- 
ame, you are very kind ; but you must 
excuse me, I have made my arrangements 
for a morning v/alk." 

He never used improper or coarse lan- 
guage anywhere, nor related stories that 
could not be told in the circle of the most 
refined ladies. He turned away with dis- 
gust from all coarseness and vulgarity. He 
was approachable to the humblest as well 
as to children. He was fond of the latter, 
because they were pure and innocent. He 



AS A MAN AND FRIEND. 1 79 

was very charitable, and aided financially 
many a poor person or family, and that in a 
very quiet and unobtrusive way. Indeed, 
when informed that such and such people 
were worthy of help, he was very liberal in 
his donations ; and it made no difference 
of what nationality they may have been ; 
but he was especially liberal toward the 
widows and orphans of soldiers and sailors. 
In our walks in Copenhagen he frequently 
handed a dollar, unsolicited, to women 
that had the appearance of being " honestly 
poor." 

It is well known that he was a great 
smoker. He was very liberal with his 
cigars ; for whenever he took one from his 
pocket to light it he generally offered one 
to every gentleman who happened to be 
present at the time. On one occasion, 
when my wife and myself were his guests, 
he offered me a cigar in her presence. She, 
remonstrating, said to him, " Ulys., don't 
lead my husband into temptation; for I 



l80 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

married him as a non-smoking man." To 
which the general replied, in an amused 
way, "Mary, let Mr. Cramer smoke if he 
wants to ; if he don't do anything worse 
he will get to heaven anyway." It is only 
proper to say here that he did not insist 
upon my smoking. He respected every 
person's conscientious convictions ; nor did 
he endeavor to persuade them differently 
so long as they violated no human or di- 
vine law or the rules of propriety. He 
never "put on airs" either of superiority 
or " smartness." 

If anyone showed him any favor he was 
sure to repay it in some form or other, if it 
was possible. He did not like to receive 
presents of any kind, and yet he disliked to 
disappoint by a refusal those who had the 
kindness to think of him in that way. At- 
tentions of this character oppressed him. 
Nevertheless, he was always sincerely grate- 
ful for the kindness of the people, in what- 
ever form it was manifested, as well as for 



AS A MAN AND FRIEND. l8l 

their good opinion of him. He was averse 
to ''fuss and feathers," or to pomp and 
show of any kind. He did not want any- 
one to go to any expense or trouble on 
his account. While in Copenhagen he 
would not permit me to give a banquet in 
his honor ; and the one offered him by the 
Minister of Foreign Affairs he gratefully 
declined, saying that he '' came to Copen- 
hagen, not be feasted, but to rest." He ap- 
preciated good sermons and good speeches. 
He was present at the graduation of his 
niece, Miss Clara V. Cramer. She read 
the " essay of honor ; " her subject was, 
'' Our Indebtedness to Greece and Rome." 
He was so highly pleased with her perform- 
ance that he gave her a hundred dollars in 
gold, and said, "That essay would have 
been a credit to a graduate of Yale or 
Harvard College." 



I 82 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

General Grant's Capture of Fort Donelson— His Virtual 
Arrest Subsequent to that Event— His Behavior in 
the Field* 

In his Memoirs General Grant refers to 
the capture of Fort Donelson, and to his 
virtual arrest after that event ; but with 
characteristic modesty he refrains from 
giving all the details, or all the reasons 
leading up to this unpleasant occurrence. 
Some daily newspapers made unkind criti- 
cisms on the general concerning the so- 
called "complaints" or ''charges" that had 
been preferred against him. It was natural 
that his father, then residing in Covington, 
Ky., opposite Cincinnati, should feel great- 
ly concerned about the matter ; so he wrote 
a letter to an officer of General Grant's 
staff, in whose veracity and frankness he 
had the utmost confidence, requesting him 



CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 1S3 

to give him a true account of llie whole 
matter. He did so, signing himself only 
with the letter " II.," and sent also a copy 
of a letter written by General Halleck to 
General Thomas, of the War Department, 
in reference to said complaints. 

These documents I found among Father 
Grant's papers. Though they were written 
with the permission to publish them, I do 
not know that they have ever been pub- 
lished (excepting General Halleck's letter). 
They throw fresh light on that episode, as 
well as on General Grant's private charac 
ter, refuting in the most positive manner 
the "charges" both of his "profanity" 
and his "drink habits." It is to be remem- 
bered that this staff officer had up to that 
time always been with General Grant, and 
had thus had opportunities for observing 
the general in his daily walk and conver- 
sation ; also, that he was a man of veracity, 
who enjoyed the confidence of Father Grant 
to the fullest extent, and who, if his state- 



1 84 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

ments relative to these *' complaints" and 
''charges " had been false, might have got- 
ten himself into trouble both with the au- 
thorities in Washington and with the public 
in general. 

These letters or documents are given here 
in exactly the same form and words in which 
they were written : 

" Jesse R. Grant, of Covington, Ky., the 
father of General Grant, being concerned 
to know the truth in relation to the com- 
plaints against his son, and his reported sus- 
pension from command after the capture of 
Fort Donelson, wrote a letter to a member 
of the general's staff, in whose veracity and 
frankness he had the utmost confidence, and 
has received the following letter of expla- 
nation, which he submits for publication : 

'"Pittsburg Landing, April, 1S62. 
" ' Dear Sir: The inquiry as to the con- 
duct of General Grant, ordered by the War 
Department, was solely with reference to 



CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 1 85 

matters subsequent to the capture of Fort 
Donelson. I send you herewith copies of 
correspondence between Adjutant General 
Thomas and General Halleck, which covers 
the whole ground of complaint, and pretty 
fully explains itself. It was Thomas's letter 
that was the foundation of the telegraphic 
dispatch to the Cincinnati papers, that 
the 'War Department had ordered General 
Grant to be superseded for bad conduct at 
Fort Donelson and elsewhere.' 

*' ' In further explanation I would state 
that immediately after the surrender of 
Fort Donelson, General Grant issued the 
most stringent orders with reference to the 
captured property. He had several officers 
arrested for their violation, one of whom 
was the Provost Marshal of Clarksville. 
He did everything that a commander of an 
army to some extent demoralized by victory 
could do to enforce his orders. He had one 
regiment detailed solely for that duty. But 
in spite of all, so vast was the amount of 



1 86 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

plunder, and so great the eagerness of the 
soldiers and citizens to procure trophies, 
that even officers of high rank were willing 
to risk their commissions in their violation ; 
and in spite of all precautions much of the 
captured property was surreptitiously car- 
ried off. So much for that complaint.' 

*' It will be observed that in the foregoing 
letter the exact date is not given, though 
it was written in April, 1862, from Pitts- 
burg Landing. 

*'The following letter was also written 
from near Pittsburg Landing, and dated 
April 25, 1862 ; its contents indicate that 
it was written some days later than the 
preceding one. It is full of interest, and 
reads as follows : 

"• In Field, Near Pittsburg Landing, 
Tenn., April 25, 1862. 

*'' My Dear Friend : Here we are, ad- 
vanced toward Corinth. Rain, rain, rain, 



CAPTURE OF FORT UONELSON, 1 87 

is the daily chronicle of the camps. Talk 
about Potomac mud! It is not to be 
compared to the Tennessee mud. That 
awful road over which our brave troops 
marched from Fort Henry to Fort Donel- 
son, when General Grant marched to ac- 
complish that victory which was the death- 
blow to the rebellion, is the only one com- 
parable to the road to Corinth. With 
twenty-eight thousand troops he not only 
took that stronghold, but at the same time 
took Bowling Green and Nashville, which 
one hundred thousand troops, under the 
generalship of the brave Buell, had failed 
to accomplish. 

" ' '' Did Buell cooperate in the taking of 
Fort Donelson ?" Let us see. But first 
let me remind you of Grant's celebrated | 
I should rather say notorious — " expedition 
against Columbus," where twenty-five (?) 
thousand men " marched up the lane, and 
then marched down again." You remem- 
ber it well. Grant's friends had high 



1 88 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

hopes at the promise and great disappoint- 
ment at the result. That expedition was 
made to divert the enemy and enable 
Buell to attack Bowling Green, which he 
failed to do. How was it reciprocated ? 
You remember an order of General Hal- 
leck's, in which he thanked Major General 
Hunter for his aid and cooperation in the 
capture of Fort Donelson. It meant to 
thank Hunter; but it meant much more. 
You will appreciate that order better when 
I narrate a few facts which have come into 
my possession. 

" ' When Grant, with an army of less 
than twenty thousand men, was about to 
march on Fort Donelson, General Halleck 
telegraphed to General Buell : " Grant is 
about to attack Fort Donelson. Can't you 
send him reinforcements?" Buell's an- 
swer was, " I have none to spare." Soon 
after Halleck telegraphed : " The enemy 
are evacuating Bowling Green and rein- 
forcing Fort Donelson. Can't you attack 



CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 1 89 

Bowling Green ? " Buell answered, '' I am 
not prepared." Halleck then telegraphed, 
*' Can't you make a demonstration ?" Buell 
replied, "I never make demonstrations." 
And so Grant was left with twenty-eight 
thousand troops and the gunboats to 
strike the blow which drove the rebel army 
from Kentucky and Tennessee and from 
their stronghold at Manassas. 

" ' What has been his reward ? The Cin- 
cinnati Gazette^ a paper making great pre- 
tensions to high-toned morality and im- 
partiality, uses such language as this con- 
cerning him : " But even in case of victory 
time should be taken to receive the full re- 
ports and find out who it was that attacked, 
pursued, and captured the enemy and took 
intrenchments at the point of the bayonet, 
and who were tardy and inert while the 
battle was going on. By a proper exer- 
cise of this moderation the government 
might avoid the extraordinary predica- 
ment of promoting a commander to a 



1 90 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

major generalship one day and suspending 
him from command the next, and eventu- 
ally restoring him, chiefly to save its own 
consistency." No baser paragraph was ever 
published in the most venal press on earth. 
There is not a line in it that is not preg- 
nant with most malicious falsehood. The 
editor of that paper either deliberately 
stated as a fact what he knew to be false, 
or he stated as a fact something concern- 
ing the truth or falsity of which he was 
ignorant. In either case he has committed 
a grave crime. 

" ' It is enough to assure you that every 
act and order of General Grant, in the in- 
vestment and capture of Fort Donelson, 
met with the cordial indorsement and 
freely expressed approbation of the com- 
manding general of the department. True, 
he was absent in the necessary discharge 
of duty at the gunboats at the time of the 
terrible conflict betw^een McClernand's 
division and the enemy on our right on 



CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. I9I 

Saturday morning. But he had so dis- 
posed his forces as to enable McClernand, 
as he eventually did, to check and repulse 
the advance of the enemy there, and had 
sent a portion of his staff, with authority 
and instructions to represent him ; while 
the brilliant and successful charges of 
General C. F. Smith on our left and 
Colonel Morgan L. Smith on our right, 
on Saturday afternoon, were made by the 
order and under the immediate supervision 
of General Grant in person. 

" * I shall not soon forget the reply of 
General Smith to a remark by General 
Buckner, on the morning of the surrender. 
It indicated the soldier and the gentle- 
man. Immediately after General Smith 
came in and was saluted by General Buck- 
ner the latter remarked, " You made a 
brilliant charge and terribly surprised us 
on our right yesterday afternoon, Gen- 
eral Smith. It decided the day against 
us." " I simply obeyed orders, nothing 



192 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

more, si//' was General Smith's prompt 
reply. 

" * No complaint whatever was ever made 
by the President, or the War Department, 
or any other authority, or any responsible 
man, for any action or want of action on 
the part of General Grant in the invest- 
m.ent and capture of Fort Donelson. He 
has received no allusion to it by any 
authority above him, except unqualified 
praise. I speak what I know. * *.' " 

[Extract from a letter written by a 
friend in the army in Tennessee to a 
friend and relative of General Grant's in 
this vicinity. 

The following copy of a letter from 
General Halleck explains itself:] 

" The following is a copy of General Hal- 
leck's letter to General Thomas, alluded to 
in the above. It relates to * complaints ' 
against General Grant at that time: 



CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 193 

" ' Headquarters Dep't of the Mississippi, 
Saint Louis, March 15, 1862. 
''"'Brigadier General L. Thomas, Adjutant 
General of the Army, Washington : 
'' ' General : In accordance with your in- 
structions of the loth instant I report that 
General Grant and several officers of high 
rank in his command, immediately after the 
battle of Fort Donelson, went to Nashville 
without my authority or knowledge. 

" ' I am satisfied, however, from investi- 
gation, that General Grant did this from 
good intentions, and from a desire to sub- 
serve the public interests. Not having 
advice of General Buell's movements, and 
learning that General B. had ordered 
Smith's division of his [Grant's] command 
to Nashville, he deemed it his duty to go 
there in person. During the absence of 
General Grant and a part of his general offi- 
cers numerous irregularities are said to have 
occurred at Fort Donelson. These were in 

violation of the orders issued by General 
13 



194 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

Grant before his departure, and probably 
under the circumstances were unavoidable. 

'"General Grant has made the proper 
explanations, and has been directed to re- 
sume his command in the field. As he 
acted from a praiseworthy although mis- 
taken zeal for the public service in going 
to Nashville and leaving his command, I 
respectfully recommend that no further 
notice be taken of it. 

*' ' There never has been any want of mili- 
tary subordinations on the part of General 
Grant, and his failure to make returns of 
his forces has been explained as resulting 
partly from the failure of colonels of regi- 
ments to report to him on their arrival, 
and partly from an interruption of tele- 
graphic communications. All these irregu- 
larities have now been remedied. 
'' ' Very respectfully, 

*' ' Your obedient servant, 

" ' (Signed,) H. W. Halleck, 

" * Major General.' 



CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON, I95 

"Again, General Grant was complained 
of because he failed to make a return of 
his forces immediately after the battle. 
His failure to do this, and the commander 
of the Eastern forces not knowing within 
two or three thousand of the exact 
strength of Grant's army, ' disarranged 
the whole plan of operations on the Poto- 
mac ! ' Now, immediately after the battle, 
General Grant issued orders to division 
commanders to send as soon as possible 
reports of their commands. This was 
done without reference to the * repeated 
orders from Washington and Saint Louis,' 
only one of which — owing to the cutting 
off of telegraphic communication — was 
ever received. But it was utterly impos- 
sible to get the division reports promptly. 
I need only cite one fact to prove this. 
The last report received was from General 
C. F. Smith — who is universally acknowl- 
edged to be one of the best disciplinarians 
in our army — and when Grant sent a re- 



196 ULYSSES S. GRANT, 

port to Saint Louis, which was at the earli- 
est practicable moment, he had to estimate 
General Smith's strength, his report not 
having been received up to that time. So 
much for this complaint. 

*' Now, as to his leaving his command and 
going to Nashville. The day after the cap- 
ture of Fort Donelson General Grant re- 
ceived an order placing him in command 
of the ' District of West Tennessee.' The 
order gave no boundaries to the district 
other than the name would suggest, and 
the only natural boundary seemed to be 
the Cumberland River. If that were the 
true boundary, Nashville was in his dis- 
trict. He wrote to General Halleck that 
he would occupy with his forces Clarks- 
ville on Friday, and the succeeding Friday 
he would take possession of Nashville, un- 
less he received different orders in the in- 
terim. Clarksville was occupied accord- 
ingly. In the meantime General Buell, 
with Mitchell's division of his army, moved 



CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. I97 

on and halted his column nine miles from 
Nashville, and sent an order to General C. 
F. Smith to move his command, which was 
part of Grant's army, from Clarksville to 
Nashville. About the same time General 
Nelson came up the Cumberland with his 
command, ten thousand strong, with in- 
structions from the Secretary of War to 
report to General Grant for duty. Grant 
not only permitted Smith to obey Buell's 
order, but sent Nelson, convoyed by a gun- 
boat, on to Nashville. Grant knew very 
well that Nashville was already evacuated 
and white flags were floating over the city, 
and that the citizens were anxious for the 
approach of our army to take possession and 
protect them from the ravages of the rear 
guard of the rebel army. It was at this 
time, and under these circumstances, that 
Grant wrote to Halleck that unless some 
order was received by the next day direct- 
ing his movements he would proceed to 
Nashville and have a conference with Buell 



198 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

as to his movements and the movements 
of the enemy. He went to Nashville, saw 
Buell, remained five or six hours, and re- 
turned to Fort Donelson. Nothing was 
ordered, and nothing transpired requiring 
his presence during his absence. These 
were General Grant's offenses, nothing 
more. 

" These have been made the pretext for 
an amount of abuse and defamation which 
no other man in the army has received. 
The fact is, the army, as well as the civil 
walks of life, has many aspirants for pre- 
ferment, and they seem to think that 
every man who has earned the favor of 
the people stands in their way and must 
be stricken down. You know as well as I 
that General Grant has no political aspira- 
tions. Often have I heard him express 
the wish that there was a law rendering 
every officer in the army unqualified for 
civil office for life. I know this further 
fact, that he has never sought, nor has any 



CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 1 99 

friend of his with his sanction, asked for 
his promotion in the army. Long ago, 
when he was commanding the District 
of Cairo, an influential friend of his, 
Mr. Washburne, wrote to him from Wash- 
ington with reference to his promotion to a 
major generalship. General Grant prompt- 
ly replied not to ask it — that no major gen- 
eralships should be given until they were 
earned by actual services in the field. 

'' You know that when he left his busi- 
ness at Galena and went to Springfield with 
a company as their drillmaster, he did not 
ask or desire a position in the army. Day 
and night he worked at Springfield, doing 
all the drudgery of organizing the army of 
Illinois — drafting blanks, instructing quar- 
termasters, mustering troops, making out 
reports, and doing everything that was 
asked by Governor Yates. While other men, 
especially those having military experience, 
were seeking the offices in the gift of the 
governor. Grant was patiently and unceas- 



200 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

ingly toiling with no object in view but the 
pubHc good. 

" It was at this time that, at the earnest 
solicitation of Governor Yates, he took 
command of a regiment whose disorgani- 
zation and want of discipline had made it 
notorious. Yates insisted that Grant was 
the only man he knew that could manage 
it. He marched his regiment into Missouri, 
and made it a model regiment for discipline 
and effectiveness. I have heard it said that 
it was the only regiment quartered in Mis- 
souri against which no complaints were 
made for depredating. 

'' While Grant was quietly performing his 
duty with his regiment in the interior of 
Missouri, cut off almost entirely from com- 
munication with the rest of the world, he 
picked up a paper one morning and saw 
the announcement of his nomination and 
confirmation as brigadier general. Noth- 
ing could have more astonished him. He 
did not know that he had * a friend at court,' 



CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 201 

and he had never thought or spoken of pro- 
motion. But there were men who had 
watched his progress in Missouri and knew 
his mihtary capacity and untiring vigilance. 
Soon after he took command of the Dis- 
trict of Cairo, and from that day to this 
his history is part of the history of the 
country. Whatever the papers may say 
by way of detraction, the general has thus 
far received the confidence and indorse- 
ment of his superiors. 

" Anyone knowing him as you and I 
know him would suppose that, whatever 
might be said about his official conduct, no 
one would ever assail his private character. 
But this has been done. General John A. 
Logan was asked in Washington a few 
weeks ago, ' What kind of a man is Grant, 
I mean his private character?' 'Sir,' re- 
plied Logan, ' he is one of the very best 
men I ever knew.' This may have been an 
extravagant opinion, but it was an honest 
one, I have no doubt. 



202 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

" Grant has been charged with drunken- 
ness ! No decent man can be found re- 
sponsible for the report. I do not know 
a more abstemious man in the army. Dur- 
ing that terrible siege of Donelson, when 
the elements seemed to have conspired to 
exhaust the strength of the besiegers, and 
some stimulant seemed absolutely neces- 
sary to health, he invariably refused to take 
one drop of liquor. It required a clear head 
as well as a strong arm to strike that fatal 
blow. 

*' There is another thing that can be 
said of the general that can be said of 
few men in the army. I do not believe 
any man ever heard him utter an oath. I 
have been with him under all manner of 
circumstances, and have seen him in anger, 
but never heard a profane word from him. 
If you knew the fearful amount of profanity 
there is in the army, and especially in the 
battlefield, you would appreciate the rare- 
ness of his virtue in this respect. The 



CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON, 203 

highest compliment I ever heard him pay 
his early instructors was a remark he made 
one day that he 'did not remember of ever 
having used an oath in his life.' For a 
man who is not a religious man to say that 
shows great reverence for the example and 
teachings of his childhood. 

'' Yours truly, H." 



In whatever light we may view General 
Grant, he stands before the world a great 
man, great in his achievements, but still 
greater in his moral nature. His character 
as it really was has not yet been fully or 
correctly drawn. Prejudice, in some form 
or other, still lingers in some minds ; nor 
have all excellent traits therein been fully 
brought out. His singleness and inflexi- 
bility of purpose, his conscientiousness, 
his devotion to duty, his sterling integrity, 
his true nobility, his refinement of nature, 
his kind-heartedness, his carefulness for the 



204 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

feelings of others, his pure and ardent 
patriotism, his strong sense of right and 
justice, his affectionate devotion to his 
family, the purity of his daily life, his 
strong common sense, his well-informed 
mind, his comprehensive intelligence, the 
quickness of his apprehension, his clear 
and far sightedness, his long-suffering un- 
der abuse and unjust criticism, his calmness 
amidst danger, his resignation amidst over- 
whelming misfortune, his heroic patience 
under a terrible and painful illness, his 
reverence for moral purity and goodness, 
his resolute determination for the triumph 
of truth and right, his trustfulness in the 
hour of sorrow, his undaunted courage on 
the battlefield, his endurance under severe 
trials and burdens, his serenity amid the 
stormy elements of passion, his composure 
amid strong temptations, his just views on 
religion and Providence, his ready recog- 
nition of merit in others, his silence under 
calumny, his unselfishness in the midst of 



CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 20$ 

self-seeking politicians and office-seekers — 
these qualities of his character stand out 
in solemn grandeur and tower far above 
the great mass of people ; and we see in 
them a sight more truly noble than any 
mere warrior or conqueror the earth ever 
nursed on her bloody bosom, and one that 
in the eye of God is greater than any king 
or emperor that ever sat upon the throne 
of ambitious dominion. 

How little do we know of his brain 
sweat, his heart labor, his conscience 
struggles, of his many days of toil, his 
many nights of weariness, his many months 
and years of vigilant, powerful effort, that 
were spent in achieving success and in 
perfecting what the world has bowed to 
in reverence ! He was the son of perse- 
verance, of unremitting toil and industry. 
He toiled long and hard, and his successes 
and greatness were due, not so much to 
his genius (if he had any), as to his perse- 
verance and industry. Like many other 



206 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

successful men, he owed more to his un- 
remitting toil, industry, and perseverance 
than to his native talents, or to his friends, 
or to favorable circumstances, or to all 
these combined. His work, whatever it 
was for the time being — he thought for it, 
planned for it, labored for it, lived for it. 
He never waited for favorable circum- 
stances. Like Napoleon I, he made cir- 
cumstances. He knew that he could not 
go to sleep and wake up an Alexander, a 
Napoleon, a Wellington, a Blucher. He 
knew that genius makes one great effort, 
then flutters, darts, and tires; but that 
hard work and perseverance wear and win ; 
and he won by these qualities. 

Reader, why do we hold up before us 
the example of great and good men? Be- 
cause the use of these examples is to in- 
spire others. The succession of all high 
and noble life is through personality. 
The fascination that draws us to the great 
and good is deep and divine ; it is a call 



CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. 20/ 

to share their greatness and goodness. If 
we get close to men of energy and see 
how they work, to men of strength and 
thought and see how they work, we will 
catch their spirit and method, and it will 
lift us into the atmosphere of purity and 
greatness and power, and energize and 
purify our whole being. 

Grant was a noble and heroic example 
of devotion to duty, to liberty, and to 
country — a country that is freedom's 
cradle and liberty's home, religion's altar 
and humanity's shrine, learning's retreat 
and the arch of safety, and holding out the 
olive branch of peace. He endeavored to 
make strong our country's right arm of 
virtue and honor and safety, and to lay 
deep the principles of the permanence, 
prosperity, and glory of our republic. Let 
us all do likewise ! 

THE END. 



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